Awaken
by Awesomo3000
Summary: 19 year old Jason is perfectly fine with who he is. He has a job that earns him money, a caring grandpa and enjoys singing as a hobby. But when Buster Moon's singing competition comes to town and Jason's family urge him to join, he reluctantly agrees. And in one week, he'll sing. Bond. And wake up to realise three important things... OCxAsh
1. Contentment

**I do not own the movie Sing.** **I only own my OC, Jason.**

 **Keep in mind, any users or anonymous cowards who change their names whenever they can. Nobody in this fandom is passing off any lyrics they use as their own. They DO try to acknowledge which singer/songwriter they belong to.**

 **And if Fanfiction is gonna create a movie category for the movie Sing, a movie about animals SINGING REAL LIFE SONGS, expect the fics to have SONG LYRICS in them. If songfics are _soooo_ abhorred on this site, why did Fanfiction create this category for a movie about singing animals in the first place? Or why are the other 60,000 songfic stories still up on this site? **

**We Sing fans are writing stories as mere fans of the movie, not authors getting paid or receiving any credit for our writing.**

 **So kindly try to understand we're NOT trying to steal anything and let us do what we love.**

 **...Okay, now that that's out of the way, enjoy! :D And don't forget to leave a review!**

* * *

Jason was ready for some sleep.

The luminescent rays from the gradually setting sun peeked over the skyscrapers of Jen Erik City, bathing everything in warm orange colours. While many citizens unfortunately had to remain at their jobs until nightfall, others breathed sighs of relief as their time to go home finally arrived. One in particular was leaning his elbow on the rubber seal of the bus window, an absent-minded stare peering lazily through the glass as cars roared past. His quills brushed against the soft material of the seat with each jolt from the vehicle stopping or rolling over a small bump in the asphalt. It wasn't until the song resonating through his earphones finally faded out that he snapped out of his drowsy trance. Gazing down at the phone held in his paw, he wearily lifted his thumb and scrolled through the various playlists before finally stopping to select one. A content smile crossed his face as the twanging first few notes of _Behind The Clouds_ started to play. That is, until a shuddering jolt from the bus rudely interrupted his relaxation.

"Hey, Jason! This is your stop, buddy!"

Barely containing his irritated groan, the porcupine nonetheless put on a grateful smile and hopped down from his seat. Leaning down to straighten out the black fabric of his trousers, he clutched his phone in his paw as he made his way to the open doors.

"Thanks for the ride, Matt!" Jason called to the buffalo behind the wheel, stepping onto the sidewalk.

"Eight-thirty next Monday?"

"You know it!" At those final words, the combined noise of the doors screeching shut and the bus' roaring engine faded away down the road. The porcupine began walking in the direction of his house, but not before giving his stiff joints a quick stretch. He looked down at his phone and tapped his thumb on the Skip Back button. Once the song started over, Jason stuffed it into the pocket of his grey work jacket and directed his eyes downward so as not to be blinded by the sunlight. As soon as the guitar intro ceased and the vocals began, he began singing along under his breath.

Jason knew most animals in Jen Erik City weren't that into the country genre, particularly his friends, but he couldn't help but find some charm in its music. Well, that and he was a sucker for Brad Paisley. As the swaying guitar chords of the instrumental bridge arose, Jason inhaled deeply before releasing it in a relaxed sigh. Now that he'd walked around the corner, he gratefully opened his eyes now that the rays from the sun weren't glaring at him. He directed his gaze at all the pleasantly-painted houses, each neatly lined up along either sides of the street. The western neighbourhood near the edge of the city weren't exactly a utopia but to Jason, it was cosy and calm regardless. As he neared his stocky white house on the left, the second verse resounding through his earphones finally began. Thus his soft singing continued as he began fishing his house keys out of his pocket.

Flicking through the decorations on the metal ring, he finally found the main key and jammed it into the lock, giving it a turn and pushing open the door. The porcupine was greeted to the familiar sight of a light oak hallway, a staircase on the left, various picture frames and ornaments hanging on the right wall and two lone lights dangling from the ceiling. The comforting melody of his song finally ceased as Jason plucked his earbuds out, shutting the front door behind him before bending down to undo his shoes.

"Hey, mom, I'm back!" He called, releasing a mental sigh of relief as he kicked off each shoe, finally giving his tormented toes a wiggle.

"Hi, Jason!" A tender voice called back from the kitchen at the end of the hallway, "How was work?"

"Eh, pretty standard, just sending out company adverts online, stuff like that." Jason called back, hanging his jacket up and smoothing out his navy blue shirt before making his way to the kitchen.

"Well then, I hope I can do something to make your day _less_ standard then." A familiar geriatric voice joined the conversation, making Jason's smile grow slightly. As he rounded the corner into the brightly-lit kitchen, the source of the voice came into view. Donning a teal button shirt with baggy brown trousers, a much older porcupine leant comfortably in one of the chairs around the table with a warm smile.

"Hi, Grandpa." Jason walked over and clambered up onto the chair next to him, giving him a gentle hug. As much as work bored him out of his skull, a visit from good old Grandpa George every Friday evening always brought a smile to his face.

"How's my favourite grandchild?" the elderly porcupine asked, giving the quills on Jason's back a ruffle with his slightly trembling hand.

"Hey, I thought _I_ was your favourite grandchild!" a voice perked up. Smiling some more, Jason turned to see his a porcupine a few years younger than him leaning against the door frame. A playful smile adorning her face, she was dressed in some casual jeans with a slightly-stretchy orange shirt with diagonal pink zig-zagging lines.

"Well this week, it's Jason's turn." came Grandpa's equally playful reply, earning a chuckle from Jason and a jokey pout from his sister. It was a comfort to know that in spite of his recently announced illness, his sense of humour was still in tact.

"Stephanie, can't you wear something nice for Grandpa George's visit?" Rolling her eyes, Stephanie glanced across as her mother vigorously working by the stove, stirring some boiling pasta while simultaneously glancing agitatedly at her daughter's attire.

"Mom, I appreciate that you work in the fashion industry but this is what _I_ consider nice."

"Yeah, sorry we can't all conform to your interpretation of nice." I added in with a teasing smirk before putting on a faux-female voice, "'No, no, you must only wear what _I_ like, mindless drone!'" Before the female porcupine could respond while Stephanie doubled over in laughter, Grandpa spoke up.

"Honestly, Gina, stop worrying so much and leave her be." He scolded lightly while never losing his smile, "Even your mother wasn't this fussy about clothes when she was your age."

"Dad, I'm just saying…"

"Would a whack upside the head mean anything to you?" Gina instantly shut up at that and went back to her cooking, earning not-so-subtle snickers from both Jason and Stephanie.

"So, Stephanie. School good?" Jason managed to ask after his laughter had died down.

"Yeah, pretty fine." came her response, "Me and Lucinda are going out to the movies this Sunday. Work?"

"Hey, it was good. I mean, as long as it pays good, that's all that matters." Just then, the sound of the front door unlocking resonated over the noise of the stove, followed by the jingling of car keys and a relieved sigh.

"I'm back!"

"Hey, dad!" Jason and Stephanie called back.

"Hi, Kenneth, you're just in time for dinner!" Gina added, shifting the pan off the stove before moving to the mixing bowl on the counter, "It's pasta caprese salad tonight!"

"Ah, excellent! I'll call the rest of the boys!" The two porcupine siblings nonchalantly covered their ears as their father's voice boomed throughout the house.

 _"_ _ALEX! CRAIG! DINNER'S READY!"_

"We're right here in the living room, dad."

"Oh. _NEVER MIND!"_

"I give it two more shouts before he brings the roof down on us all." Grandpa murmured across to Jason and his sister, once more earning a barely-stifled laugh.

At that moment, Kenneth trudged into the kitchen in his Jen Erik City College teacher suit, giving his wife a quick peck on the cheek before sitting at the head of the long table. Jason's two eldest brothers, Alex and Craig, followed suite, slumping down in their chairs. Both were fairly casual in their attire, settling for scruffy jeans with darkly-coloured t-shirts which Gina could only cringe at.

Stephanie helped to carry the fully-prepared meal over to the table, dishing out equal amounts into each bowl. When it came to Grandpa's bowl, however, she spooned slightly less pasta and more of the tomatoes on top into his own bowl. Jason tore his glance away from that; ever since Grandpa's illness had been announced, the doctors had suggested that he try to eat more healthily and consume less salty and sugary products. For the most part, it seemed to be working fine. He was still as good-humoured and upbeat as he always was.

"So, Jason?"

The porcupine snapped out of his thoughts for a moment, stuffing one of the tomatoes into his mouth before looking up at his oldest brother.

"Yes, Craig?"

"You found any girls yet with that 'incredible' voice of yours?" Jason responded to that question with a roll of his eyes before getting back to his dinner.

For some reason, he had the pleasure of being one of those guys nearing 20 and having to put up with questions of "when are you gonna get a girlfriend" or "why aren't you looking for anyone". He had had plenty of friends in college who were female and not once did any of them bring up relationships. Not that Jason was against romance, he did like the idea of finding someone. But it wasn't exactly at the top of his priorities list; he wasn't scouring the globe until he found one. As far as he was concerned, it would happen when it happened.

"Oh, would you leave him alone?" came Gina's reprimanding voice.

"What? I'm just asking."

"You're not, you're aggravating him."

"Mom, you can clearly see I'm not annoyed in any way." Jason interrupted in a completely calm tone, giving a smile at Craig for good measure, "It's a brotherly joke. Get it?"

"If there's one thing your mother can't get, boys, it's _guy_ humour." Grandpa chuckled, giving a wiggle of his eyebrows as he gently chewed on a forkful of pasta.

 _"_ _Dad!"_ the mother porcupine cried embarrassingly as the whole table erupted with laughter.

"Well he's got a point, Gina." Kenneth replied, trying hard to stifle his chuckle. The moment his wife gave him a sharp glare that burrowed into his soul, however, he quickly shut up and went back to eating.

"So have you, Jason?" Craig asked again, maintaining a smug smile. Luckily, Jason was prepared.

"Depends. Have _you?_ Or are you still sitting on your butt, binge-watching shows on your tablet?" Stephanie resisted the urge to scream 'ooooooh' at her brother as he buttoned his lip and quietly went back to eating. Gina giggled slightly before turning her attention to her son.

"But Jason, I really _do_ think you should join a music club or something."

"Oh, not this again." The porcupine couldn't help but mutter, unfortunately loud enough for his mother to hear him.

"I'm just saying, you're an extremely talented young man…"

"Oh, yeah, _real_ talented." Alex interrupted snidely.

"Shut up, Alex." snapped Stephanie, giving him a smack on the arm. She leant across to Jason as Alex rubbed his now-sore arm. "It's alright, Jason, _I_ know your singing is amazing."

"Thanks, Steph." Jason replied, a grateful smile turned the corners of his mouth up. But it faded instantly when he turned to look at Gina, "But mom, we've been over this. Singing's just a _hobby_ I like, nothing else."

"Young man, I don't think you realise how gifted you truly are." Grandpa set his fork down on the table and gave Jason a pat on the shoulder for emphasis.

"Exactly!" Gina continued, "You're _way_ too talented to let that voice go to waste and never be heard. I mean, if you just gave it a chance, you could be a professional singer!"

"Mom, I've got a job that pays good enough."

"A _part-time_ job."

"But it _pays_ and I enjoy it just fine. And if I work hard enough, maybe my boss will take me on as a full-time permanent employee."

"Yes, but…"

"Oh, leave him alone, Gina." Kenneth interrupted at last, "We shouldn't _force_ him into the music business if he doesn't want to. He's perfectly capable of deciding what future he wants."

"But, Dad, he's got a great voice!" cried Stephanie, "He can't just _not_ use it for the rest of his life!"

"Pfft, what great voice?"

"Shut it, Alex!" the porcupine girl cast a menacing glare at her brother, "You're just jealous because Jason can actually sing and you can't."

"He'd have to _have_ something for me to be jealous of it." When Jason was younger, this kind of demeaning comment would've caused Jason to pounce on his brother like a maniac. Now that he was older and more used to these kind of things, nothing mean his siblings said phased him anymore.

"I'm good at cooking breakfast foods, Stephanie, but that doesn't mean I want to do _that_ the rest of my life." Jason replied, drawing her attention towards him, "I mean, sure, it may be a skill I have but it's not my _dream_ to become a world-famous breakfast chef."

"Jason, I may not be your age anymore but I know for a fact that singing is in your blood." Grandpa responded gently but firmly, "If I was part of a choir when I was younger, _you_ can join a local band or a music club or something."

 _'_ _Just say yes to get him off your back, Jason.'_ A tiny haranguing voice echoed in the back of Jason's mind, pounding his brain like a hammer on a nail.

"Alright, Grandpa, consider it considered." With that, Jason put his fork down on his plate with a clatter and pushed it away slightly.

"Right. Craig and Alex, you're both on washing up duty." Gina instructed as everyone finished up their own food.

 _"_ _What?"_ asked the two porcupines in an extremely whiny manner, "Why?"

"Because you wouldn't stop bugging Jason and because I said so." Came the stern reply. "Now get to it." Gina grinned to herself smugly as the pair of them miserably went around the table, collecting all the dirty plates and silverware before carrying them over to the sink. With that, everyone else stood up and tucked their chairs back in as Grandpa reached into his pocket and pulled out a plastic packet. Flipping open the top, he tipped two capsules into his hand and popped them into his mouth before washing them down with his glass of water. Jason glanced at him for a moment before snapping out of it.

 _'_ _He's fine, the medication's working great. He's still in good spirits, what do you have to worry about?'_

* * *

That night, Grandpa had left to go home while everyone else in the household had gone to bed. Except for Jason, who was indeed in bed but was listening to one last tune on his phone. One of his personal favourites. One Grandpa had introduced him to when he was a kid yet he'd never been able to sing quite right. So he just resorted to humming it under his breath.

The moment it had ended and Jason had finished quietly murmuring the fading tune to himself, he set the alarm to 7.00am and leaned over to place the phone on his bedside table. Reflecting the light from its screen was a short square portrait of his entire family. From Stephanie to his parents to his irritating brothers… to Grandpa.

 _'_ _If I was part of a choir when I was younger, you can join a local band or a music club or something.'_

Those words endlessly buzzed in Jason's mind as he tossed and turned under the covers before finally settling in a comfortable position and starting to doze off. He loved his family dearly, not matter how annoying they got at times because, hey, they were family. That was to be expected. But why did everyone bug him so much? He knew what he wanted. He had a perfectly fine job that earned him some cash. He only sang as a pastime and he was fine with that.

Wasn't he?

* * *

 ***I do not own the rights of the movie 'Sing'. All rights go to Illumination Entertainment.**

 **Here's the YouTube link to the song Jason was singing in this chapter: /watch?v=GEnkfgjf-q4**

 **BTW, I know that silly pun is most likely not the city's name, but let's face it, people. It really is just a generic city with animal citizens. XD And don't ask me how porcupine clothes work either, I stopped trying to figure it out ages ago.**


	2. Rinse, Repeat

**I do not own the movie Sing. I only own my OC, Jason.**

 **I did a little research into these Critics United asshats who are reporting Sing fanfics for using song lyrics (in a movie category that involves animals singing real songs that the Fanfiction admins willingly created). And while they themselves don't actually have the power to remove stories from the site, they're sticklers for the rules and will report songfics no matter how much anyone tries to justify their existence.**

 **Don't get me wrong, they're a bunch of complete uptight, arrogant pricks in desperate need of a crippling blow to the spine. But seeing how some stories from this movie category have already gone, better safe than sorry, right?**

 **With that in mind, I will not, I repeat, NOT use lyrics from songs in this fanfic from here on out. I'll either post a YouTube link to them in the authors notes, describe the character singing them or just let you use your imagination. Happy now, CU, you bunch of hemorrhoids?**

 **Anyhoo, enjoy and don't forget to leave a review! :D**

Jason shot upright with a sharp inhale as the opening guitar riff of _Holiday_ blared throughout his room.

With an annoyed groan, he sluggishly reached his hand across to his phone and shut the song off before it woke the whole house up. Lifting the phone up in front of him, his head fell back on the pillow with a thud as he saw the 7:00am gleaming in his face. Jason was many things but a morning person was _not_ one of them. As much as he hated to admit it, though, the only way to wake a heavy sleeper like himself was a deafening rock song as an alarm. Giving his stinging eyes a rub, the porcupine resisted the urge to instantly fall back to sleep as he reluctantly hoisted himself out of bed. Dragging his heavy feet across the floor slowly, he finally made it to the windows and gradually pulled open the curtains. He squinted at first but his eyes eventually adjusted to the morning light peeking over the skyscraper tops in the distance.

"Why does the weekend always have to pass by so freakin' fast?" Jason grumbled quietly as he walked over to his wardrobe, grabbing his grey jacket with matching trousers and his blue Hawaiian shirt off the hanger. He then snatched his deodorant off the bedside table on his way out the door to the bathroom.

Once the nice hot shower had finally woke him up, Jason instantly started on pulling his work clothes on. First went on the socks and boxers. Next the vest with a quick spray of deodorant under the arms. Then the trousers and belt. Followed by the shirt, his paws doing up each button in a blur. And finally the jacket, giving it a sharp tug to straighten out the creases. Quickly giving his quills a pat in the mirror, Jason yanked open the bathroom door and tossed his bundled-up pyjamas through onto his bed as he passed by his bedroom. Starting down the stairs toward the kitchen, he smiled for the first time that morning as he entered to see Stephanie leaning against the counter, already smartly dressed in her school uniform.

"Well look who's finally awake." She said with a playful smirk, getting an eye-roll from her brother in return.

"We can't all be morning people like you, Steph." Jason muttered, making his way over to the fridge.

"No, but you can try it." Came the jesting reply, "Omelette?"

"Yep."

"Cheese?"

"Please. French toast?"

"Uh-huh."

"With bananas?"

"You know it. Waffles for mom?"

"On it. Alex and Craig?"

"Let those lazy bums get their own breakfast."

"Excellent choice."

With a laugh, the two siblings were at work in milliseconds, each on an opposite end of the stove as their arms were a blur. In no time at all, Jason and Stephanie were scooping their completed food out of the pans and onto each other's waiting plates. On his way to the table, Jason reached across and flicked the ON switch on the kettle while his father walked in and got himself a mug out of the cupboard. At last, Jason and his sister sat in their respective chairs and began digging into their breakfast.

"Y'know, it's spooky of how in-sync we are when it comes to cooking." Stephanie stated with a mouthful of French toast.

"But awesome." Responded Jason, cutting off a piece of omelette and scooping it into his mouth.

"That too."

Their jokey conversation was cut off by the sound of Gina yawning as she stepped into the kitchen. Making her way over to her chair, she stopped midway to give her husband a kiss on the cheek.

"Morning, mom. Your waffles are ready for you."

"Oh, thanks, Stephanie." Came the drowsy reply, "Syrup and butter?"

"Just how you like it." At that moment, Alex and Craig finally came into the kitchen, dressed only in their boxers and yawning obnoxiously. Dragging their feet across the light oak floorboards, annoyed and tired groans escaped their mouths as they saw no food prepared for them on the table. Without even looking up from their plates, Jason and Stephanie gave each other a high five as their older siblings trudged over to the fridge to get their own breakfast.

The moment breakfast had finished, Jason trudged up the stairs and went back into the bathroom. Squeezing some minty blue paste onto his toothbrush, the porcupine immediately set to work on giving his teeth a thorough cleaning. Once finished, he gargled some mouthwash for good measure before marching back into his bedroom. His paws reached over to his desk in the corner of the room where his laptop was and grabbed the essentials for the day: wallet, house keys and earphones. He then went over to his bedside table and snatched his phone off it, stuffing all the items into his jacket and trouser pockets. Jason gave a small satisfied nod at the 8:15 showing on his watch before opening his wardrobe to take out his black polished shoes. Sitting back on the edge of his bed, he wriggled his feet until they finally slipped into the footwear, he set to work tying the laces up nice and tight.

"See ya later, mom!" came Stephanie's shout from downstairs followed by the sound of Dad opening the door.

"I'll see you after school, Stephanie!" Gina called back from the kitchen, "Bye, Kenneth!"

"See you at 4:30, Gina!" Kenneth called before exiting the house to drive Stephanie to school, slamming the front door behind them. At that moment, Jason had finally finished doing up his shoes and stood up triumphantly, albeit dejectedly.

 _Well back to work._

* * *

"Thanks, Matt!"

"No problem, Jason! Same time for pickup as always?" the buffalo called from behind the wheel.

"You got it!" With that, Jason made his way down the street as the bus pulled away behind him. Making sure not to accidentally prick anyone he passed, the porcupine took in a deep breath of morning air as he walked. Rounding the corner, he reluctantly took his earphones out and wrapped them up into a neat bundle before stuffing them back into the inside of his jacket. For coming up on his right was his workplace, _JEC Insurance_. Not exactly the most invigorating job on the planet but a job that paid well regardless.

Pushing open the doors, Jason gave a quick "hey" to the cow receptionist Rosie before making his way over to the elevator. He was still a little achy in the legs so the last thing he needed was more walking up the stairs. He was just about to reach up on his tiptoes to press the 3rd floor button when a familiar hoof reached over and beat him to it.

"Hey, Charlotte, good weekend?" he asked the gazelle next to him, looking up at her with a friendly smile while the elevator doors drew shut.

"Very nice, thanks, Jason." She responded, smiling back as she straightened her glasses, "Took my kids to the museum for the first time."

"Oh, yeah? They like it?"

"You should've been there to see Sam's reaction to the dinosaur exhibit." Charlotte stifled a laugh, "I swear, if I weren't looking, he would've tried to climb up and ride the Triceratops skeleton down the halls!" Jason failed to contain his own laugh, grinning at the thought of a tiny gazelle riding atop a dinosaur skeleton.

"Amber wasn't too much trouble then?"

"Heh, thankfully not. Although after we left, she did ask me if she could have a T-rex for Christmas."

"D'aww, bless her."

Sadly, their jovial conversation was cut short as a _ding_ resounded throughout the elevator, prompting the doors to slide open. Sighing quietly, Jason stepped out and started walking past the monotonous rows of animals typing away at computers and answering their phones. At last, he reached his own desk which was thankfully by the window so he at least had a nice view. Adjusting comfortably in his seat, Jason typed his company login and password before clicking on his emails. Instantly, three new emails from the boss popped up in the inbox, each saying what messages to post on which company account.

As Jason was younger, ergo more familiar with modern technology and social media, he was put in charge of updating both the Muzzlebook and Tweet-Tweet accounts for the company. Posting about ways to stay safe in everyday environments, what their company covered, scheduling these posts to go up in the later weeks, reblogging posts from other companies to get their customers to notice them, rinse and repeat.

From nine until five.

Again, not the most exciting job but at least the pay was good.

* * *

By the time midday rolled around, Jason's fingers were already aching. Letting out a quiet groan as he gave them a wriggle, he glanced up at his screen. No new emails. Which meant no new tasks for the moment.

 _Well I suppose a_ _ **little**_ _break can't hurt, can it?_ His conscience pestered, praying that he would give in. Breathing a small sigh, the porcupine looked around cautiously at the thousands of other employees. Not one pair of eyes from the other desks left their computer screens.

Carefully, Jason reached into his pocket and pulled out his earphones. Unwinding them and quickly plugging them into the port on the side, he opened a new tab on the screen and went onto MeTube before searching for the video he wanted. He leant back in his chair in pure bliss as he finally selected the song _Ooh Child_ by The Five Stairsteps. Hitting PLAY, its comforting tune instantly began playing softly into his ears. The moment the opening chorus started, Jason began to sing along under his breath, his pitch clear and his voice calm. Letting his eyelids slowly droop closed, he began to bob his head slightly when it came to the first verse, still gently singing as he did so.

"Enjoying yourself, Jason?"

 _"DAAH!"_ Jason immediately jolted upright, quills launching out of his back in fright as his earphones popped out from the jerking. Tearing his eyes away from the screen, the porcupine turned to see a very stern-looking chimpanzee in a snappy suit, his folded arms matching the unamused scowl on his face.

"Uh, hehe, s-sorry, Mr. Reece." Jason stuttered with a sheepish grin, "I was, umm, just relaxing in my chair for a little bit. Y'know, seeing how I, uh, didn't have any new emails in my inbox right now and just thought 'why not', right?" He gave a short chuckle which prompted died when the chimp didn't return the sentiment.

"You know our computer surveillance lets me see _everything_ you're doing on your screen, don't you?"

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. It won't happen again, I promise." Jason quickly replied, quickly closing the tab and shoving his earphones back into his pocket.

"Good, 'cause you're one of our most useful employees here, Jason." Came the _slightly_ more positive response. "But if there's one thing I don't tolerate at this company, it's goofing off when we're supposed to be helping others." Jason gave a short obedient nod, promptly opening up his emails once again as the boss turned away.

"Oh, and watch where you're shooting those quills of yours." Mr. Reece called over his shoulder as he marched away past the other employees. Confused for a moment, Jason's eyes widened in realisation as he hesitantly glanced at the desk behind him. He was greeted by the sight of an irritated elephant with quills embedded in his trunk and the hand he was shielding himself with.

"Uhh, sorry, James." The porcupine awkwardly waved before spinning his chair around to look back at his computer. He winced slightly as he got an aggravated grumble in response. He didn't even have a chance to breathe as ten new emails promptly flooded into his inbox like a tsunami. Followed by another five. And just to mess with him, five more.

"Greeeeeat." Jason muttered, slamming his head down onto the desk hard, "…Ouch."

 ***I do not own the rights of the movie 'Sing'. All rights go to Illumination Entertainment.**

 **Here is the YouTube link to the song Jason was singing in this chapter: /watch?v=dguz0IsCuKU**


	3. Opportunity

**I do not own the movie Sing. I only own my OC, Jason.**

 **Enjoy and don't forget to leave a review! :)**

* * *

 _'_ _Remember, the motor trade industry is a very expansive one. And one you should possibly consider insurance for! If you're the owner of a motor trade business, the risks you face may differ greatly from other businesses in the same industry! For more details, please visit our webpage on motor trade insurance!'_

Copying the link for the company's website into the post, Jason felt like his fingers would fall off at any second as he jabbed the ENTER key. Instantly the message popped up on JEC Insurance's Tweet-Tweet page along with the Muzzlebook tab. Cautiously, he refreshed his inbox which mercifully granted him with no new emails. The porcupine rolled his office chair over to the window by his desk and gave it a firm shove, pushing the stubborn thing open. He exhaled a sigh of content as the cool afternoon air wafted through the opening and into his work space. Jason took a quick breath in through his nostrils before glancing down at his watch, the hands pointing to 1:09 PM.

"Okay… _now_ break time." He eagerly began digging his paw into his jacket pocket for his earphones. But the idea of listening to more tunes quickly evaporated at the memory of Mr. Reece's condescending glare. So his dejected paw slunk out of his pocket and down to his side.

"Friggin' screen surveillance." Jason couldn't help but mutter under his breath, instead reaching for the shimmering red apple next to his computer. He spun the fruit in his paw for a bit before settling on the juiciest-looking spot, taking a bite and munching on it contently.

The only mundane noises filling his ears now were the crunching of his meal and the droning _tappity-tappity_ of computer keyboards with the occasional _brrrrring_.

 _Yeah, like I'm gonna put up with_ _ **that**_ _for the next fifteen minutes._ Jason thought, swallowing his apple portion before preparing for another bite. Just because he wasn't allowed to use his earphones didn't mean he couldn't make his own music.

Biting another chunk out of his apple, the porcupine began to hum the beginning vocals of _O-O-H Child_ as he chewed. Quietly enough so nobody would stare but just loud enough so he could hear it himself. Satisfied, his finger gently tapped against his leg to the silent beat as he imagined the backing instrumentals. The spotlights. The microphone. _The audience…_

Jason's eyes shot open, startled, as a sudden flash of orange whizzed through the open window and past his face. Jolting in alarm, he blinked for a moment before turning his vision down toward his now empty paw then at the floor. A disappointed grimace came over his face at the sight of his beloved apple now resting by his chair's wheels, small fragments of gravel and dust now clinging to its juicy inside.

"Well, great. There goes lunch." Leaning down to pick it up by the stem, Jason sat up in his chair again and plopped the ruined apple into the trash can by his desk. He then looked up in annoyance, glaring at the orange disturbance more clearly.

Pressed against his computer screen by the breeze entering through the window was a small sheet of neon orange paper with big black writing. Jason tore the flyer away from his screen with a paw and studied it more closely, his irritated expression softening slightly. The bold text read:

 **SINGING COMPETITION AUDITIONS**

 **THE WINNER WILL RECEIVE THE GRAND PRIZE**

 **OF**

 **$100,000**

 **OPEN AUDITIONS AT THE MOON THEATER**

 **551 ECHO DRIVE**

Fully intrigued now, Jason's wide eyes gazed out the window at the many other flyers fluttering in the winds, all of them soaring gracefully past the buildings and into the streets below. Then he looked back at his own flyer. His vision never left it for the longest time.

Until a notification _beep_ from his computer snapped Jason out of his trance, followed by the new email opening up.

 _'_ _Jason, if you want your paycheck by the end of this week, I suggest you schedule some social media posts for next month on timber yard safety, pipes and malware PRONTO! Mr. Reece'_

Giving a sigh, the porcupine absent-mindedly folded the flyer neatly and stuffed it into his jacket pocket, turning his attention back to his keyboard.

"So much for break time."

* * *

The trip home that evening was nothing new for Jason; catch the 5:20 bus, swap some friendly words with Matt the driver, walk the two blocks back to the house, all that jazz.

Entering the house this evening, however, was a different story.

He'd barely had time to shut the front door behind him before Stephanie was right in his face, yelling in excitement and waving something orange in front of his eyes.

"Have you seen this today, Jason?! These flyers were all over the city! One of them got stuck to my quills at lunch today and I just knew I _had_ to show it to you! And it's for a singing contest! _Right here!_ How awesome is _that?!"_ It wasn't until Gina thankfully held the ecstatic porcupine back that Jason finally got some breathing room. But clearly, she was barely containing her own joy as well.

"Yes, Stephanie, I got a pretty good look at that flyer today in my workspace." Jason replied, "And it cost me my lunch."

"Jason, this could be the perfect chance to prove yourself!" Gina exclaimed, placing a paw on her son's shoulder and giving it a small, enthusiastic shake. He just gave her an incredulous stare in return.

"Prove myself? What are you talk-what have I got to prove, mom?"

"Oh, come on!" His sister cried, jabbing her finger at the flyer's large black font, "This competition is practically _gift-wrapped_ for you!"

"Nah, entering competitions require folks with _skill."_ Came an obnoxious voice from the living room.

"Shut up, Alex!" Stephanie glared down the hallway before beaming back at her brother. "And besides, look at the prize money they're giving away! A hundred thousand dollars! Just _imagine_ what you could do with that!" Jason just shook his head with a small unbothered grin.

"Stephanie, my job pays me plenty."

 _Okay, you can't exactly_ _ **swim**_ _in just $400 a month but it's still plenty._

"And we've gone over this a thousand times: singing is just a _hobby_ , not a career choice." He continued, "Besides, the odds of me winning a contest like this when there are probably _THOUSANDS_ of other animals with singing skills in the city are preeeetty slim."

"Oh, Jason, I don't care if you don't win." Gina scoffed, lovingly running her paw over his cheek. "This is your chance to _do_ something with that voice of yours. Loosen up a bit, y'know, have some fun! What if this is the _only_ opportunity you ever get?" Stephanie nodded vigorously.

"Yeah, what do you plan on doing? Just sitting up in your room all the time, listening to your earphones every evening when you come home from work?" She probed, "It's like Grandpa said, you're just letting your talent go to waste and never sharing it with anyone!"

"What talent?"

"Craig, _zip it!"_

"I'm sure your boss wouldn't mind you taking a few days off for this." Jason could only roll his eyes in exasperation at his mother's pleas.

"Mom…"

"Come on… do it for Grandpa. Or at least, for me. _Pleeeeeeeease?"_ That's when Stephanie gave him... _the pout._

If there was one sure-fire way to get her brothers to do anything, it was her simply widening her eyes to anime levels and sticking out her bottom lip like she could burst into tears at any moment. It had rarely failed when she was a toddler and somehow, even as a teenager, it didn't fail to elicit _some_ kind of compliance.

"Oh, Stephanie… no, stop it. Enough with the pouty face. No, it's not gonna work this time... I _mean it_ , it's not… Just… Mom, tell her to knock it off… _Mom!_ " But try as he might, Jason just couldn't _not_ cave in.

"…Oh, okay, fine." he replied at last, the side of his mouth curling up a tiny bit, "I guess it could be fun." Immediately dropping the pout, Stephanie gave a tiny _squee_ before yanking her brother into a bone-crushing embrace.

"Great!" She cried in a high-pitched tone before pulling out of the hug and bounding into the kitchen.

"Okay, Jason, be sure to give your boss a call and tell him you'll be off work for a few days, if you _do_ manage to get into the show." Gina instructed as she followed her daughter to start on dinner, "And don't forget to pick a song! You've got a _big_ day tomorrow!"

"Yeah, yeah, got it." Came Jason's lukewarm reply as he trudged up the stairs, wondering just what in the heck he'd gotten himself into. Pulling off his jacket as he entered his bedroom, he flung it onto his desk chair and instantly began changing into some more comfortable clothing. Eventually settling for some jeans with a white shirt and zip-up black hoodie, he plopped himself down onto his bed with a sigh. After two tedious minutes of staring at the ceiling, he fished around in his pocket and pulled out his phone, gazing at its vacant black screen.

 _Why do I **have** to do this singing contest? My job pays just enough, I like singing as just a hobby and I'm **fine** with that. _ That little voice in the back of Jason's mind harangued monotonously. Until the reflection in his phone morphed into a familiar elderly face and spoke.

 _"Jason, I may not be your age anymore but I know for a fact that singing is in your blood..."_

Giving a sharp exhale of defeat, his finger pressed down on the phone's main button and he began flicking through his many playlists in the Music app.

"Then again…" he thought aloud, "I guess _anything's_ better than going through sixty emails a day."

* * *

 ***I do not own the rights of the movie 'Sing'. All rights go to Illumination Entertainment.**


	4. Auditions

**I do not own the movie Sing. I only own my OC, Jason.**

 **Enjoy and don't forget to leave a review! :)**

* * *

The 9AM rays of the sun illuminated the streets of Echo Drive below.

After forcing himself up (with some loud 'assistance' from Stephanie) and informing Mr Reece of his absence for the day, Jason had managed to brush up, get dressed into his normal clothes and thankfully catch the bus in time. After reaching the last stop on the journey and gaining some directions, the porcupine's feet were killing him from the nearly-ten minute walk before he rounded the final corner at last. His drowsy eyes popped open in shock as he was met with the sight of hundreds… no, _thousands_ of animals all lined up on the sidewalk outside the Moon Theatre, the majority of them holding the same orange flyers from yesterday. There was even a news truck parked nearby with a camera crew at the ready.

"Jeez, all this for a singing contest?" Jason couldn't help but mutter to himself, before figuring most of them were probably just there for the prize money. "Well, no point in wasting time, I guess."

Crossing over the street, Jason made his way to the back of the queue just as a couple more animals almost instantly joined him. Tilting his head out, he could see animals of all size and species either practicing a few notes to themselves, chatting excitedly with the animal next to them or posting about it on their phones. A news reporter dog was already working his way down the line interviewing some of the contestants.

 _Well, good to know they're excited._ Jason thought, pulling out his phone and checking his messages, a majority of the new ones being from Gina and Stephanie. They mainly consisted of "Remember to breathe!", "GOOD LUCK!" and "Let me know how it goes!". Giving a brief sigh through his nostrils, the porcupine stuffed the phone back into his pocket and took a step forward as the queue moved ever-so-slightly.

Fifteen straight minutes had passed before Jason finally walked up the carpet-covered steps and into the foyer of the theatre.

"Nice digs." He murmured as he gazed in wonder at the polished wooden frames and red felt walls surrounding him, "Guess there's a reason they call it _grand_ theatre." The line thankfully moved a little quicker inside the building until he was finally face-to-face with a doddery-looking lizard with a bullhorn and a _very_ wonky eye. Behind her, in a snappy blue suit stood a squat middle-aged koala, who Jason assumed was this 'Buster Moon' guy he'd heard about in the queue. And he was undoubtedly trying to contain his sheer joy at the amount of animals before him. Jason took a tiny step back as the lizard waved her clipboard in front of his nose, her carefree smile never wavering.

"Okay, young man, if you could just sign your name and the song you'll be performing please?" She asked, offering a pen with her other shaky hand. Taking them both, Jason removed the lid and scrawled in an empty column on the paper:

 _Jason Eburno, singing Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce._

Handing the clipboard and pen back to her, the porcupine made his way through the doors and to the back of the stage. Waiting in the wings were thankfully a few less animals than there had been outside. Shrugging to himself, Jason propped himself up on one of the amplifiers and waited, checking his phone occasionally. Unfortunately, his eardrums had to suffer from the sound of the bunny trio coming through the curtains, 'singing' that painful _Anaconda_ song by that artist whose name Jason had forced out of his subconscious.

 _It's amazing the kind of dreck they'll pass off as 'music' nowadays. No soul anymore, it's all about money and drinks and body parts._ Jason thought to himself, repulsed. _But hey, I guess if you put a butt on the album cover, you got yourself a seller._

 _"_ _Okay, Ash and Lance next please!"_

The lizard's scratchy old voice through the bullhorn snapped Jason out of his thoughts as the next two contestants picked up their equipment and made their way onto the stage. Jason just turned his attention back to his phone, flicking through even more messages of "Good luck!" and "Remember to sing clearly!".

Until the thrashing sounds of electric guitars shocked him enough to drop it to the floor.

Cringing, Jason knelt down to pick it up as the racket assaulted his ears more than the bunny trio had. The male voice currently singing the dreadful lyrics was deafening, like an entire army of nails scraping down the world's biggest chalkboard while screaming as if set on fire. And that was putting it _nicely._ Jason had heard his fair share of heavy metal but he wasn't even sure if this qualified as real singing.

But another voice quickly took over.

A girl's voice.

One that was… _gorgeous._ Loud yet pure and silvery at the same time.

Running over to the curtains, Jason peeked around the corner and caught a clear look at the contestants. They were two porcupines around his age, the pair of massive amps behind them booming with each strum from their guitars. Buster and the lizard in the front seats looked as if they were bracing themselves against a hurricane. The girl porcupine on the left earning a sour glare from the male next to her, clearly the source of those amazing vocals, gained only one quiet word from Jason.

"…Whoa."

She had sort of a rebellious look to her, punk-like. But in a way that she still looked… kind of cute. She wore a plaid skirt over her light blue jeans with matching blue trainers. Two loose quills were threaded through the front of her black mid-sleeve shirt, which she wore over her white long-sleeve shirt. And her fingers were practically flying over the neck of her red guitar as her stunning voice held that high note into the mike, the sound resonating throughout the amphitheatre. Shielding himself behind his clipboard, Jason could see the koala smiling and giving a nod at her performance. Not that he could blame the guy; Jason could tell she was extremely passionate about singing.

 _Heck, even she can make those terrible lyrics bearable._ He thought, still gazing in awe at her.

"Right, thank you, Ash and Lance." The koala commented, smiling gratefully whilst clearing out his ear with a finger. The two porcupines unplugged their guitars and walked back behind the curtain, the boy scowling at the girl who simply smiled to herself excitedly. And Jason couldn't help but crack a smile himself as she walked past him; it was downright contagious.

 _"_ _Next up, Jason!"_ The lizard's voice on the bullhorn blared out. Regaining his focus, Jason straightened his black zip-up hoodie before taking a deep cleansing breath and stepping out onto the stage. His eyes quickly adjusted to the lights as he took his place in front of the mike, still heightened to his level.

"Right, take it away, Jason!" Buster called, a keen smile on his face. Relaxing slightly, Jason simply imagined himself behind his desk at work as the beginning guitar notes of _Time in a Bottle_ sounded from the speakers. He then started singing gently into the mike, keeping his composure and remembering the lyrics with no trouble. Opening his eyes a crack, he could see the lizard looking deeply invested in the performance whilst Buster jotted down some notes onto his clipboard, occasionally taking quick glances at the porcupine.

The moment Jason had finished his act, he opened his eyes fully as the final guitar notes of his chosen song faded away. Buster and the lizard both looked equally impressed.

"Very nice, Jason! Very nice indeed!" the koala stated with a grin, checking Jason's name off his list. Giving a grateful smile along with a small nod in return, Jason made his way back into the wings as the next contestant's name was called out.

"Well that was… pretty fun." He muttered to himself with a tiny smile. Exiting through the door, he went into the main area where a number of rehearsal spaces with glass walls were. Animals who had already auditioned were waiting around, either standing, leaning or sitting on chairs talking to one another. Through the jungle of legs and tails, he squinted slightly until he could make out a lone empty chair. Making his way through the crowd, giving quick apologies to everyone he accidentally poked with his quills, Jason finally got the chance to sit down on the chair. Letting out a relieved sigh, he was just about to pull his phone out of his pocket when he heard a pair of familiar voices a few feet away.

"Ash, babe, don't you remember what we discussed yesterday?"

"I know, I know, sorry. I just, y'know…"

"Got carried away. Again. Yeah, _there's_ a shocker."

Turning his head left, his eyes widened slightly at the sight of the same two porcupines from before, both engaged in quite a heated debate. The girl, Ash if he'd heard correctly, fumbled her fingers around her guitar neck awkwardly as the male porcupine gave her a disapproving frown, leaning against the glass of a rehearsal room. Jason couldn't help but slump his shoulders slightly at the word "babe", confirming their relationship. Nonetheless, he listened to the rest of the argument.

"But the koala looked like he enjoyed it, Lance. I'd say that's a pretty good sign." Ash smiled optimistically to ease the tension, but that did very little to change her lover's face.

"Yeah, but it coulda been a _whole lot_ better if you'd just stuck to the backing vocals like you were supposed to." Came his curt reply, "Heck, we'll be lucky if we even get into the show at all." With that, he simply went back to tuning his guitar nonchalantly.

Jason's eyes narrowed in disgust as Ash looked down at the floorboards with slight guilt; he'd had plenty of friends in school who were girls and may have never been romantically interested in any of them, but surely _that_ wasn't the proper way for someone to treat their girlfriend. Ash's performance had been superb, regardless of whether she was singing as lead or backup. As much as he pictured giving that creep a well-deserved punch in the teeth, Jason remembered he wasn't exactly the authoritative type.

So instead he picked himself up and slowly, albeit slightly anxiously, stepped over to Ash who was still glancing downward. A quick tap on the shoulder made her look across at him. Jason's knees almost gave out from under him at the sight of her dazzling blue eyes staring right at him. The skin under his tan fur heated up slightly as if he was bathed in warm sunlight. They say that the eyes were the key to the soul. And these particular eyes, like pools of diamond, led to a very passionate, fierce yet gentle soul.

"Uhh, _yes?"_

Snapping out of his stupor, Jason's daydream melted away as he cleared his throat, Ash glancing at him with curious impatience. Finally he gave his compliment.

"If it's of any consolation, _I_ thought you were pretty amazing."

He flashed a quick smile of support as Ash's eyes widened slightly before he made his way back to his seat. Happy he'd gotten that off his chest, Jason fished his phone out of his pocket and began texting his mother and sister about his audition. Almost instantly, his message was met with "OMG, well done, tell us if you get in!". Chuckling slightly, Jason gave a roll of his eyes before taking out his earphones and plugging them in. He sighed in bliss as the loud barrage of chatter around him faded away to be replaced with the sweet tunes of the 80s.

The whole time, he didn't noticed Ash's surprised gaze never leaving him. As if this was the first time anyone had complimented her on anything.

* * *

 _"_ _Hello? Can I have everybody back to stage please? Everyone come back to stage for selection!"_ The lizard's scratchy voice yelled into the bullhorn for the final time that day.

Jason looked up to see all the animals around him beginning to head for the exit and make their way back to the stage. Bundling his earphones up into a ball and stuffing them back into his pocket, he pulled himself off the chair and onto his feet.

"Well, let's get this over with." He murmured as he followed the contestants. Once onstage, they all lined up as Buster and the lizard stood before them intensely. Jason positioned himself behind a cat and that awful bunny trio from before. Many of the competitors bore extremely nervous looks as Buster paced slowly along the front of the line like a drill sergeant. Even Jason quickly straightened himself up when the koala turned around to pace the other way. For a big-eared ball of fur, he sure had a tremendous presence.

"Alright, let's see now… I'll taaaaaaaaaake…" the porcupine heard him mutter as he studied his clipboard closely, briefly looking up to scrutinise some animals he passed. Finally he pointed his pen at a trio of frogs all clad in white leather. "…you guys." The three long-legged contestants whooped and celebrated amongst themselves as Buster then stopped in front of Ash and Lance.

"And which one of you is the girl?" Jason could only roll his eyes at, he assumed, the koala's attempt at humour.

"Ha-ha, very funny." Ash replied dryly.

 _You read my mind._

"'Loud and horrible but shows promise'." Buster read off his sheet before giving a cordial smile. "Welcome to the show." Jason felt his heart fly as Ash's expression lit up with surprise followed by sheer delight.

"Heh, cool. Guess we could hang." Lance remarked.

"No, no, I just want her, not you." Buster replied without missing a beat as he walked away from them both.

"What?" The porcupine pair stared at him, Lance looking more irate than Ash did. Jason couldn't help giving a miniscule smirk of satisfaction at Lance's anger.

 _Suck it, jerk face._

"The rest of the group acts, thank you for coming." The koala's announcement resulted in disappointed groans from many of the contestants who immediately began leaving the stage, ignoring Buster's reassurances of ticket discounts. Out of the corner of his eye, Jason noticed Lance give a roll of his eyes and begin following them, clutching his guitar in his paw.

"Pssh, let's get outta here, Ash."

The girl porcupine hesitated, however, taking a tiny step back but never drawing her eyes away from the remaining contestants. Or was she looking at… someone else?

 _"_ _Ash!"_ She jolted slightly at the sharpness of her boyfriend's tone before reluctantly joining him.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, let's go." She replied uncertainly. Her eyes didn't leave Jason's until she finally turned away and left the amphitheatre. A twang of sadness went through Jason's chest as he watched her go.

 _Well at least she's in._ He reassured himself with some gratitude.

"Okay, soloists! Johnny, Mike, Pete, Richard, Daniel, and Ray!"

For some reason, the porcupine felt that sad wave rush through him once more at the fact his name wasn't mentioned.

"Eh, may as well be a good sport and not leave yet." He muttered under his breath as the selected contestants nervously stepped forward. Buster once more inspected them all before pointing down at the white mouse in the snappy red suit.

"Mike. Wowza! Gotta have _you_ in my show."

"Oh, I, if you insist." The mouse replied in an aloof manner, as if he'd had no doubts of being selected.

"And I'll take… Pete."

"Yes!" The camel in the foreign getup gave a victorious fist-pump before joining Mike on the edge of the stage. Buster continued pacing around the contestants before stopping behind the bull, who was practically shaking with tension.

"And two more… let me see now… umm, thanks for coming, Richard." The bull, Richard, let out a breath of disappointment before stomping his hoof.

 _"_ _AAAH!"_

Right on top of the snail contestant.

"Oh, my… Ray!" Jason cringed along with everyone else as the panicked bull picked up the barely-conscious snail in his hooves. Hastily, he sprinted away down the aisle and out the doors, muttering "I gotcha" and "you're gonna be okay" all the while.

 _Yeesh, poor guy._

"Well there goes my original selected contender." Buster muttered, looking back at his clipboard then at the giraffe and gorilla remaining, "Hmm… I'm gonna need a replacement for Ray, uhh…" He studied his list carefully before his eyes lit up.

"Jason!"

Jason's eyes snapped open at the mention of his name. He could only stand there, frozen in a stupor as the koala looked at him with a grin.

 _"…_ _Huh?"_

"Congratulations, you're in. Welcome aboard." Jason stared at him for what seemed like forever.

"Umm…" Awkwardly sucking his lips in, the porcupine gave a sharp clap of his paws to snap himself out of his trance, "Okay. Great. That's, uh, that's cool. I shall just, uh… go stand over there. YYYYep."

Making his way past Buster as he began to make his decision between the giraffe and the gorilla, Jason's utter shock never died down at this unexpected turn.

 _Well…_ He thought gawkily. _…at least Stephanie will be happy._

* * *

 ***I do not own the rights of the movie 'Sing'. All rights go to Illumination Entertainment.**

 **Here's the YouTube link to Jason's audition song: /watch?v=AnWWj6xOleY**

 **Also, yes, I removed the farting bull. Because really, what did that scene add? That was just in the movie because the writers thought to themselves "lolz, kids like farts cuz they're stupid".**


	5. Conflictions

**Hiiii, everybody!**

 **I know, I know, you're gonna say: "Awesomo… WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!"**

 **And I got a perfectly reasonable explanation for my absence. For a while, I lost a little motivation for this movie and a bit of my drive to write, that and my job is really time-consuming and exhausting. That and maaaaybe a little laziness thrown in.**

 **Y'see?** _ **Totally**_ **understandable! :D**

 **Anywho, I'm here now and I'll try to update this story as much as I can for you guys. I won't just abandon it because words cannot describe how grateful I am for the amount of favourites, reviews and follows I've gotten for this fic in the past two months. With those in mind, I won't stop trying to keep you guys entertained, soooo… on with the chapter! I know it's a little shorter than the previous ones, but hey,** _ **something's**_ **better than** _ **nothing**_ **, right?**

 **I do not own the movie Sing. I only own my OC, Jason.**

 **Enjoy and don't forget to leave a review! :)**

Jason stood amongst the remaining contestants that had been chosen.

Having initially chosen Daniel the giraffe, Buster quickly realised how frustrating it would be to constantly talk to him through the bullhorn and went with the gorilla Johnny instead. Additionally, he'd decided on a duo act between Gunter, an incredibly energetic and chubby pig (with a German accent to boot), and another pig named Rosita so as to make her less 'boring to watch'. Jason, however, stared out into space. Still too lost in his own shock to take notice. Out of all the countless rejected contestants leaving the theatre in disappointment, Buster Moon had chosen _him_.

 _I mean, I guess I can't complain but still…_ _ **me?**_

"Okay, you are my chosen few."

Moon's voice instantly snapped him out of his stupor as the selected competitors gather round, all giving quiet exclamations of excitement. The little koala admired his cast as he continued his announcement.

"This is it, folks. A defining moment in _all_ of our lives!" He stopped midway through, turning around to see the red panda group who had come back, each retaining an eager smile.

"Umm, no, no, no, not you guys. I dismissed all the group acts already, you can go home." The middle one responded with a quick burst of Japanese that Jason couldn't decipher, with an additional bow of presumably gratitude. Moon shook his head and tapped his clipboard with his pen.

"Look, look, I'm really sorry but all the slots are _filled_ …" All he got in return was another spout of Japanese followed by the pandas all bowing in unison. They then turned on their little pink CD player and began singing and dancing along to some techno Japanese music, ignoring Buster's protests altogether. It wasn't until he switched off the music and had the lizard (whom Jason finally heard her name as Miss Crawley) shoo them away that they left. An amused smirk crept onto Jason's face as the pandas all ran giggling past a sheep who had just entered and taken a seat in the back of the auditorium.

"Hey, Moon!" called out the mouse, Mike, who had clambered up onto the big chest behind Buster, "What's the story? Is the prize really inside this thing?"

"The prize? Oh, sure, yes. It's all in there." Came the neutral response.

"Well open it, will ya? I wanna see what $100,000 looks like." Mike demanded, rubbing his paws together impatiently as all the other contestants spoke up in agreement. Even Jason had to admit, although he didn't come for the prize, it would be interesting to see _that_ much money inside one trunk.

"Sure, I'll open it." Moon began rummaging around in his pocket for the keys. But his smile dropped, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Wait… what did you say?"

"He said $100,000." The sheep came over to the stage, handing Buster his own copy of the flyer. Taking it in his paw and giving it a quick read, the koala let out a tiny yelp before turning around slowly to face the contestants.

"I… forgot my keys." He chuckled uneasily, crumpling the flyer up into a ball and tossing it away. "I'll, uh, be right back." Seizing Miss Crawley's hand, he sprinted off the stage with her and into the wings. Staring after him, the contestants all turned their attention to the sheep.

"Is he your friend?" Johnny inquired, gaining a quick "mm-hm" in return. The sheep then clambered up the stage steps and ran behind the curtains after the koala.

"Quite the eccentric one, isn't he?" Jason couldn't help but quip. A silence hung in the air for a moment or two. Gunter instantly spun around and began rambling endlessly to Rosita of how 'spicy' and 'totally wunderbar' their act was going to be, gaining an uneasy smile from her in response. Pete the camel's eyes gazed at the amphitheatre's design as the frog trio began chatting amongst themselves. Mike just relaxed on top of the chest rubbing its wooden lid greedily, not paying anyone around him any attention.

 _Well, no point in letting this time go to waste._ Jason thought to himself, his eyes awkwardly darting between the various contestants and their conversations. _May as well get friendly._

"So, uh, congratulations on getting in, Johnny." He at last spun around on his heel and gazing up at Johnny next to him. The gorilla looked down at him with an appreciative grin.

"Yeah, you too. Jason, right?"

"That's me. So you're the singer in your family, I'm guessing?"

"Yeah, well, I mean, I mainly drive cars and, uh, sometimes skateboard." Johnny replied, stuffing his hands into the pockets on his leather jacket, "Singing, it's, uh, sort of a natural talent I got from my mum. Been doing it since childhood."

"Oh, yeah? She proud you entered this show?" Jason raised an interested eyebrow. The gorilla took a hand out to scratch his head awkwardly.

"Umm, I wouldn't know. She… she left my dad when I was a kid."

"Oh, I'm sorry about that." Jason replied, his friendly smile faltering.

"Nah, it's alright."

"Well… I bet your dad's proud of you then?" Johnny squirmed somewhat uncomfortably, rolling his shoulders and glancing at the wall to his left.

"Uh, yeah, yeah…" Came his unsure reply. The porcupine gazed up at him incredulously but decided not to pry anymore. "Wh-What about you? You the singer in _your_ family?"

"Oh, it's more of a hobby than a life goal." Jason shrugged, straightening his hoodie out. "I'm just doing this to get some time off work. That, and my sister loves my voice and _desperately_ wants me to use it."

The corner of Johnny's mouth curled up in amusement.

"Yeah? Does the rest of your family like your singing?" He asked.

"Yeah, I think I got it from my grandpa on my mom's side of the family. He used to be in a choir. My parents like it too but my two older brothers tease me about it constantly."

"They do?"

"Yeah, insisting I have no talent, telling me that my voice isn't that good, all that jazz."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, mate." Johnny frowned, almost sympathetically.

"Ah, don't worry about it, I know they're only kidding." Jason raised his paw dismissively. "I mean, we're brothers, it's what we do. Trade friendly insults, laugh it off at the end of the day, that sorta thing."

"Yeah, guess so." Came the gorilla's soft reply, looking down at the floorboards. A pregnant pause followed.

"Any siblings yourself?" Jason inquired after a few seconds.

"Nah, I'm an only child."

"Heh, be glad you haven't had to put up with the stuff I've gone through with _my_ siblings for nineteen years of my life." The porcupine joked, "Especially my sister's pouty face she used to make me enter this show." Johnny couldn't help letting out a laugh at that.

"And it always gets you?" he asked with an amused grin.

"Every single time."

Before Johnny could respond, they both flinched at the thundering sound of the amphitheatre doors slamming open.

" _Okay, everybody, listen up!"_

Gunter shushed everyone as Buster strode down the corridor authoritatively, his sheep friend leaning against the door.

"I gotta send you all home. Right now." Jason cocked his head in confusion along with everyone else before Buster continued, smiling all the way. "Yep. 'Cause like my dad used to say… get a good night's sleep and do a great day's work!"

"That's right." He continued, running up the steps onto the stage, "Rehearsals begin first thing tomorrow morning. And if you wanna become stars and win a hundred grand, then you better be ready to work harder than you've ever worked in your _lives!_ So get some sleep and dream big dreams!"

All the contestants gave their own little cheers and whoops of excitement at this. Jason couldn't help giving his own tiny grin with a nod in agreement. Everyone then began leaving the stage while the sheep began chatting with Eddie behind them.

"So, Johnny, guess I'll see you tomorrow then." Jason said, holding out his fist to the gorilla as soon as they got outside, a TV crew filming them all leaving the theatre. Smiling in return, Johnny gave the porcupine a fistbump.

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it." He replied as he began making his way down the sidewalk, pulling his skateboard out from under his arm and hopping onto it. Whizzing down the street, Jason watched him until he rounded the corner and disappeared.

"See you in the morning, everyone!" Jason called over his shoulder as he made his way across the street. He smiled at the acknowledgements he heard in return as he started his own journey back to the bus stop.

* * *

Trudging up the stone steps of his house, Jason plucked his earphones out before fishing around in his pocket for his house keys. As his fingers flicked through the various ones on the chain, he couldn't get his mind off a lot of things. The competition. The other contestants. The fact he'd been chosen to begin with.

And that other porcupine that left the theatre early.

 _Ash._

What a name. What was it short for? Ashley? Or Ashlynn perhaps?

 _I suppose it doesn't matter that much._ Jason's conscience decided. _Ash is short and sweet regardless._

He remembered how confident she looked onstage at the auditions. How expertly she'd played her guitar. The stunning high notes she effortlessly hit during the song. And yet how little her boyfriend seemed to acknowledge her talent at all…

"So, Jason, how'd it go?"

Blinking rapidly, Jason realised he had walked through the door and was now greeted with Stephanie and his parents staring him in the face eagerly. Craig and Alex just leant against the living room doorframe casually.

"Did you get in?" Gina asked. His eyebrows furrowing in confusion for a moment, Jason mentally kicked himself as he remembered he forgot to text them his audition results. So he gave them his calm reply.

"Surprisingly, yes. Yes, I did."

Next thing he knew, his ears were assaulted by the volume of Stephanie's squees of delight followed by her near-suffocating hug, coupled with Gina smothering kisses over every inch of his face possible as her husband gave him a satisfied pat on his arm.

"They must have some pretty low tastes then!" Craig called over the deafening sounds of praise, though his snarky comment went unheard.

"Oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh, oh, my _goooooosh!"_ His sister cried, finally releasing Jason from her tight embrace before he could choke.

"Jason, you have no idea how proud of you we are!" Gina exclaimed after giving him one final kiss on the forehead. Jason raised a flippant eyebrow.

"Oh, I think I got a pretty good idea from the kisses and the bone-crushing hug." Stephanie blushed slightly under her fur, giving her arm an awkward scratch.

"Sorry, sorry." Almost instantly though, her bouncy smile returned. "It's just… well… you're _in!"_

"Honestly I didn't really expect to get in." Jason replied with a shrug, "But some last minute changes had to be done to the singer selections so… yeah, here I am."

"Well I'd say that's a pretty great decision on their part." Kenneth gave his son another proud pat on the arm. Jason tried to give a smile of gratitude but settled for a small puzzled frown instead.

"Still, of all the contestants that came to the auditions, they pick _me?"_

"Yeah, we find that pretty hard to believe too."

"Shut it, Alex!" Stephanie glared at her eldest sibling venomously before spinning around to face Jason with an ecstatic smile. "But who cares? You got in anyway! That's amazing in and of itself! And besides, if they chose you out of all the others there, you _must_ be that good!" With that, she came in for another, and mercifully _less_ painful, hug.

"So all you have to do is call up your boss and let him know you got a show to put on!" Gina added. Jason nodded with the most non-hesitant smile he could muster.

"Yep, should be fun."

* * *

After a quick pretending to be exhausted from the day and an email sent to his boss, Jason lay upon his bed in a white shirt and blue boxers. For the past twenty minutes, he'd been doing nothing but staring at the ceiling. Thinking of many things. About why he had been chosen to perform. About whether he'd made the right decision to enter in the first place. About what the heck he'd do with all that prize money if he somehow won. About what he was going to do after the show was over.

The sound of his Axel F ringtone instantly jolted him out of his trance.

Reaching over to his bedside table without looking, Jason held his phone up to his face. The smiling icon of Grandpa underneath the MuzzleTime logo blared from his screen. Feeling a little more at ease, Jason pressed the green phone button and was greeted by his grandparent's warm smile.

"Heeeey, how's my favourite grandson?"

"Hi, grandpa." Jason responded, his grin widening.

"Your mother told me the news. About how you got into that singing contest I've seen on the news." The porcupine's smile wavered a little at the mention of the show.

"Yep. I did."

"I bet you feel pretty excited about it." Grandpa turned away from the screen to let out a rather wretched cough. Jason grimaced but forced himself to ignore the sound.

"Uh, yeah, kind of. I guess…" He sighed. "I'm just a little confused. I mean, I don't get why they chose _me_ out of all the others they saw audition today."

"Well to me, Jason, it sounds like the judges there know talent when they hear it. I know _I_ certainly do." Grandpa replied proudly, adjusting his glasses slightly, "If they picked you over all the others who auditioned, I think that says quite a lot about you." Jason resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the familiar statement his sister had stated earlier but nonetheless kept his smile as best as he could.

"Oh, believe me, I'm grateful, really." He replied hastily, "But come on, it's not like this is gonna be a permanent career choice, Grandpa. It's just something to get some time away from work for a bit, that's all. The moment this finishes, it's back to the insurance comp…"

" _Jason."_

The young porcupine flinched, almost dropping the phone. Rarely did Grandpa ever use that kind of strict tone, especially on him. But the whole family knew damn well to always pay attention whenever he did.

"Listen to me."

Sitting up until he was leaning against his pillow, Jason focused obediently on his elder's firm stare.

"You've finally gotten the chance to express your talent. To show others and yourself what you're really capable of. When the judges made you a part of the show, that means they saw something inside you worth bringing out that you don't see in yourself. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity you've been given, Jason. When an opportunity comes up, you've got to take it. And when you take it, you got to be ready for everything that comes after it. So don't let this go to waste, Jason. You go up on that stage and make the best of it. _Please._ Promise me that you will."

The room filled with a silence so tense, it couldn't be cut with even the sharpest knife. Many of Jason's emotions battled viciously for control. Finally he gave his answer.

"I… okay, Grandpa. I promise."

The elderly porcupine's face on the screen instantly softened into a tender grin.

"Good boy. Now you better get some rest for rehearsals tomorrow."

"Yeah, goodnight, Grandpa." Jason smiled back warmly, "Love you."

"I love you too." At those final words, Grandpa's smiling face was replaced with the red phone icon. Jason stared at the screen for the longest time with a sort of sad grin. Finally, he set his morning alarm for earlier than usual and placing his phone back on the bedside table. Pulling the covers over himself, one final thought raced through his brain before his eyes slowly closed.

 _Hopefully this'll all be worth it._

 ***I do not own the rights of the movie 'Sing'. All rights go to Illumination Entertainment.**

 **Hope the wait was worth it! :D**


	6. Creative Differences

**I know, I know, sorry for the lateness again. But remember: we authors here on Fanfiction do have a life with responsibilities outside this website, y'know. And for me, that's my job and buying birthday gifts. XD**

 **I do not own the movie Sing. I only own my OC, Jason.**

 **Enjoy and don't forget to leave a review! :)**

Jason arrived at rehearsals at exactly 8:25 in the morning.

After groggily heaving his tired bones out of bed, he had shut off his set-earlier-than-usual alarm (with some motivation courtesy of Stephanie) and gotten ready for the 7:40 bus. Having not been much of a morning porcupine before, waking up this early was even _more_ of a challenge to him.

But thankfully, he was fully dressed, showered and ready by the time he walked through the main door of the Moon Theatre. And once again, he couldn't help but gaze around at the shimmering red velvet adorning the walls and the four towering marble pillars that reached up to the ceiling.

"I'll never get used to the scope of this place." He murmured, finally tearing his eyes away as he continued down the corridor. Pushing open the bronze wooden doors to the amphitheatre, Jason made his way down past the endless rows of seats. Looking ahead, he saw that Johnny, Gunter, Mike, Pete and the frogs were already there waiting and talking amongst each other.

But no Ash.

 _Late probably, no biggie. Happens to any teenager this early._ Jason's conscience reassured him.

"Hey, Jason!"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Jason turned to see that Johnny had taken notice of him. Grinning, he clambered his way up the steps and onto the stage. The two animals then engaged in a quick friendly fist bump.

"Good to see you, Johnny."

"Ready to start the day?" The gorilla asked with a smile.

"Eh, little sleepy but I'm sure I'll get into it as the day goes by." Came Jason's jokey reply, adding a fake yawn for good measure. "I'm more of an early bird than a night owl." Johnny chuckled in response just as Rosita entered and made her way up to the stage.

"I know that feeling all too well, mate."

" _Good morning, folks!"_

All the animals flinched in alarm at the volume of that shout, just as a familiar koala followed by his elderly lizard assistant walked up the steps onto the stage.

 _Sheesh, didn't even hear him come in. Someone give that koala a bell, stat._

"Now I trust you all had a good night's rest because you've got an incredibly busy couple of days ahead of you." The contestants hurriedly lined up along the stage, Jason placing himself between Johnny and the frog trio as Buster began pacing in front of them, clipboard in paw. Behind him, Miss Crawley toddled behind, handing out sheets of paper to each of them.

"This contest is _war_. This stage is the _battlefield_. Your song is your _weapon_." The koala enunciated as Jason took his own sheet from Miss Crawley's hand with an appreciative nod. The other competitors regarded their own with great vocal interest.

"You only get one shot to blow that audience away. So choose carefully from the list of songs I've selected for each of you." Raising an eyebrow, the porcupine was just about to glance at his sheet when his ears picked up the sound of running footsteps.

Out of the corner of his eye, some of Jason's drowsiness instantly melted away as he saw Ash take her place at the end of the line. Buster also took notice of her arrival and smiled.

"Ah, talked some sense into that boyfriend of yours?" He inquired, fishing out Ash's own sheet from his clipboard. Jason's brow furrowed at the mention of the rude porcupine from yesterday as Ash gave a roll of her gleaming blue eyes.

"Lance is an artist," she responded in that snarky yet sweet voice of hers, "but I wouldn't expect _you_ to understand that."

"You're right, I don't understand that at all." Even Jason couldn't help smirking slightly at Ash's baffled reaction to the koala's totally nonchalant reply. He then began walking backstage and casually avoiding any props and equipment in his path, the contestants all following him in an optimistic hubbub.

"Now you'll notice each list also includes my costume and performance suggestions. Okay, Miss Crawley will show you to your rehearsal spaces. Now let's get to work."

"'Scuse me? Mr. Moon?" Johnny called, running until he was right alongside the koala. He gestured towards his sheet, confused. "For some reason, it says here that I should be playing the piano?"

"Yes!" came Buster's confident reply, clearly not noticing the hesitance in the gorilla's voice, "Just imagine: big soulful guy like you tenderly playing the keys. They'll be goosebumps everywhere!"

"Well I haven't played piano since I was a kid…"

"Miss Crawley! We're gonna need some piano lessons over here!" Buster called without missing a beat.

"Yes, sir!" the lizard replied as Buster took a cup of coffee from the refreshments tray held in her quivering hands, "Up the stairs, Johnny, and I'll be right along."

 _Wow, that koala sure is dedicated._ Jason raised an eyebrow as Johnny began making his way up the rickety staircase.

"And Pete, you're in here."

"You got it, Mr. Moon!" The plaid-dressed camel acknowledged, making his way to an empty rehearsal space. Jason's attention perked up to the sound of loud bickering coming from the large practice room where the frogs had gone. Putting his cup down, Buster quickly sprinted in to assess the situation.

Jason's hunger kicked in as he took one of the orange muffins off Miss Crawley's tray. Turning around to see Ash, he began opening his mouth to speak to her.

"Ash, dear, you're in the rehearsal space at the end there."

And his mouth clamped shut with slight disappointment as Ash nodded at the lizard and made her way to the end room. Miss Crawley turned to him with a kind smile, clearly not noticing his expression.

"And Jason, if you could go into that room th-what? Hey, get outta here!" Opening the door to the room next to Pete's, Miss Crawley shooed the same giggling red pandas out the door as Jason watched awkwardly.

"Well you have to admire their persistence." Rosita said, smiling, before Miss Crawley directed her and Gunter to their own rehearsal room. Looking down, Jason noticed the suit-donning mouse Mike with his arms folded with his paper sheet lying next to him. From the look of it, he hadn't been given anywhere to go.

 _May as well get friendly with the others._

"Hey, if you want, Mike, you could share my rehearsal space?" The porcupine offered with a polite grin, holding open the door for emphasis. The mouse only gave a roll of his eyes.

"Pfft, I don't need a rehearsal space. I already _know_ I'm talented." Came the haughty reply as he gestured to the paper beside his tiny body. "These songs? Just a walk in the park. Last thing I need is having to share a room with any a' these amateurs. No offense there, Spike." Jason gave an indignant frown at his unwanted new nickname. Mike simply turned on his heel without so much as a smile and walked away as if he owned the place.

"None taken." Jason called after him, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Ratface." He muttered that last word under his breath, wishing he'd said it loud enough for that rude mouse to hear clearly.

 _So much for getting friendly with_ _ **everyone.**_

Making a mental note to steer clear of him for the rest of the week, Jason went into his now-empty rehearsal space and surveyed the surroundings. The wall in front of him was shining wood while the other two were giant windows gazing into the rehearsal rooms next to him, complete with a hanging red curtain each for privacy. And in the centre was a single chair and a CD player with, presumably, a CD that had his selected songs.

"Eh, short but sweet. I dig it." Jason concluded. As he put his muffin down on the chair, he suddenly realized he still hadn't taken the time to look at his own list. Lifting the paper up to eye level, he studied his song choices.

And his heart plummeted further to the pit of his stomach with each one he read.

 _All-Star by Smash Mouth_

 _You're Welcome by Dwayne Johnson_

 _If You Can't Rock Me by The Brian Setzer Orchestra_

 _Crash by The Primitives_

 _Into Yesterday by Sugar Ray_

 _Find Yourself by Brad Paisley_

 _Crocodile Rock by Elton John_

 _Paradise by Coldplay_

 _Careless Whisper by George Michael_

 _Friends by Blake Shelton_

 _I See Fire by Ed Sheeran_

It was as if that koala hadn't even paid any attention to his audition. His face contorting into a mixture of annoyance and nervousness, the porcupine spun around and shoved open his door roughly, just in time to see Buster calmly checking his clipboard near the dress racks.

"Hey! Mr Moon!" The sharpness of Jason's voice instantly made the koala's head jerk up to look at him. "Not sure if you listened to my song at the auditions yesterday but _these_ songs have higher octaves than I'm used to." To his irritation, Moon seemed blissfully unaware of Jason's frustration.

"I know, right?" he replied, still bearing that same optimistic smile. "I gotta say, after watching your audition, I see a _whole_ lotta potential in you, Jason. And think of how great you could sound with one of these songs under your belt." Rolling his eyes, the porcupine went for a more blunt approach as if speaking to a child.

"Maybe I should rephrase that. _I can't sing this high._ " But Buster only remained undeterred.

"Well the way I see it, you're very talented but from what I saw yesterday, you're playing it too safe." Came his response. "You're not singing enough from the heart. And when you sing, you gotta really _feel_ it inside yourself. And just imagine it, after some practice and by the time the main event arrives, you'll blow the entire audience away."

"Mr Moon, with all due respect, I _know_ my own limits." Jason countered, holding his list next to his head and shaking it. "And frankly, you're asking me to push past some _pretty big_ limits."

"Well, Jason, y'know what my dad used to say about limits? If you never try going over them, you'll never know what you're truly capable of." The moment Buster finished that quotation, he smiled and held out his arms in a "ta-da" pose. But Jason only raised an eyebrow.

"Did your dad ever tell you not to confuse optimism with ignorance?" He asked in a snippy tone.

 _"Hey, Moon!_ You gave me the wrong list."

The two animals broke apart their conversation to see Ash walking down the steps from her rehearsal space, looking pretty annoyed herself.

"Cheesy pop's not exactly my style." She continued, distastefully holding her sheet between her fingers like a piece of trash.

"Style, I'm glad you brought that up." Buster replied, completely ignoring Jason and jumping up onto a trunk next to the dress racks. Fishing around for a moment, he finally pulled out a fluorescent pink (and very small-looking) leotard complete with a tutu. "There!"

"Ugh!" Ash flinched at the costume in total disgust while Jason just stared at it.

 _Urge… to not imagine her… in that outfit… failing…_

"Isn't this a great colour for you?" The koala asked, not even noticing her reaction.

"I can't tell, it's melting my eyes." Jason snapped out of his daydream and stifled a chuckle at her deadpan reply. "You got anything in black?"

" _Black?"_ Buster asked in shock as if she'd said a bad word. "What, you-you want everyone to think you're going to a funeral? Think you're some kinda artsy-fartsy type? No, no, no, no, no." Dragging a stool over to the next rack, he flicked through some of the costumes as Ash begrudgingly followed him. Both hers and Jason's faces dropped in repulsion when Buster finally revealed an even worse outfit: a sparkling, frilly lavender dress.

"Bingo! Pop star princess!" He held it up, smiling obliviously.

 _Pop star princess? Did he even listen to her song yesterday? This koala is_ _ **impossible!**_

But before either of them could object, a loud bang resounded throughout the building. Everyone nearly jumped out of their skins as the entire theatre instantly became shrouded in darkness.

"Okay, everybody, don't panic. Don't panic." Buster said, trying to maintain order as Jason and all the other contestants began gathering round, inquiring about what was going on whilst trying not to bump into one another.

"Talk to me, Crawley."

"Uh, when did we last pay the power company, Mr Moon?" she asked, fumbling around in the darkness.

"Oh, for Pete's sake." The koala muttered, prying Miss Crawley's searching hands off his face. He then turned to face the others, attempting to put on his most convincing smile. Whether he was trying to convince himself or the contestants was anyone's guess.

"Okay, don't worry, everybody. I will take care of this." He announced reassuringly, "In the meantime, you will continue to rehearse… in the dark!" It was Jason and Ash who announced their thoughts at the same time.

"What?"

"Heh?"

"But I can't see anything!" Rosita protested.

"Don't you worry, Rosita! I have glowsticks!" her rotund partner announced, pulling out two glowsticks from absolutely nowhere and snapping them, instantly making them glow green. He then began shaking them like a pair of marachas as everyone stared.

"Great!" Buster called behind him as he ran towards the exit. "Use this time to shake off those first day inhibitions and I'll be right back."

"Okay, you heard him! Back to work now! Come on, everybody." Miss Crawley announced firmly, ushering everyone back to their rooms before anyone could object. Closing the door behind him, Jason gazed back down at the song sheet in his paw. Then at the CD player. Finally, a brief but loud and _very_ annoyed sigh escaped his lips; it was clear from their conversation that there were going be more than a few creative differences between him and Buster.

"Stupid high octaves…" The porcupine unceremoniously dropped his sheet out of his grasp and let it flutter down onto the floorboards.

 _Just keep your promise to Grandpa and put up with this until it's all over._

"Fine, ya stupid conscience. Kindly _shut up."_ Jason muttered, scowling upwards at his forehead before sighing again, albeit in a more defeated tone. With hesitance, he bent down and picked up the paper once more.

"Let's get this over with."

 **And to all you crazy shippers out there, don't you guys worry. They'll be plenty of Ash and Jason interaction in the next chapter, plus some bonding with Meena too. ;)**

 ***I do not own the rights of the movie 'Sing'. All rights go to Illumination Entertainment.**


	7. First Day Inhibitions

**Hey, just a heads-up, Brendan:**

 **If I don't update this story for a while in-between chapters, maybe,** _ **just maybe**_ **, you should consider the fact that I might be busy with my life and that I'll update in my own time. There's a reason I haven't approved many of your reviews you keep sending me; they're nothing but "dude where are u". Contrary to what you might think, they're NOT encouraging or helpful, they're bloody annoying. I'm _not_ playing around. So if I get _one more_ review from you like that, I swear I'll block anonymous reviews altogether. **

**So JUST. BE. PATIENT. Got it?**

 **I do not own the movie Sing. I only own my OC, Jason.**

 **Enjoy and don't forget to leave a review! :)**

A couple hours later (and after the power had been restored), a bored-looking Jason finally pushed open his door.

He'd spent the last few hours scanning through the song titles on his sheet one by one and simultaneously listening the CD with their instrumental tracks. However, rather than singing them aloud, the porcupine had stuck with simply murmuring the lyrics under his breath.

It wasn't as if he didn't know them; he actually knew a handful of them very well, having either caught them on the radio or listened to them multiple times when in a peppy mood. Had they been any other songs on the planet, he would gladly have sung them aloud. These particular ones, though, were a complete turn-off. Normally when confronted with a task either at work or home, he'd jump straight to it and complete it with no reluctance. But the task of performing songs with higher pitches than he liked? That was a different story.

Thus he'd come to the conclusion that perhaps a quick break would take his mind off these aggravations.

He was just stepping out of his rehearsal room when something large immediately trod in front of him. The collision sent the porcupine sprawling to the floor. Sitting up, Jason rubbed his sore nose before glancing up to see a large elephant with a blue hoodie and tiny pigtails turning around in shock, clutching a refreshment tray in her trunk.

"Oh, my gosh! I'm so sorry! I-I didn't see you there." She apologised frantically as Jason picked himself up.

"It's fine, don't worry about it, really." He replied, visibly wincing at the pain from falling on his rear. "Hey, I don't think I've seen you around here. Are you a new contestant?" The elephant's ears flattened against her head slightly, as if in disappointment.

"Uh, no, I-I'm just a stagehand. Recently appointed actually." She responded rather quietly, before offering out her large hand with a shy smile, "I'm Meena, by the way." The porcupine kindly returned the handshake with a smile of his own.

"Well nice to meet you, Meena. My name's Jason."

"I, uh, I was going around with the refreshments, seeing how Miss Crawley's busy helping Johnny on the piano." The elephant carried on, presenting Jason the tray of cookies and water-filled cups grasped in her trunk. "And I was wondering if you maybe wanted one?"

Jason looked down and held a paw to his stomach, softly growling right on cue.

"Well you came just in the nick of time, Meena, 'cause I am pretty hungry." He joked, gaining a small giggle in return. With that, Jason reached out a paw for the cookie on top of the pile.

Until it came into contact with a familiar chestnut-brown paw reaching for the same one.

Blushing profusely beneath his fur, Jason turned to look directly at Ash for the first time that day. And their eyes met for the first time all morning. Jason once again felt his heart flutter at the sight of her stunning blue irises, like two vast oceans of glistening jewels surrounding the window to her soul. True, that sounded corny as hell but he didn't care.

Blinking rapidly, both porcupines tore their paws away from the cookie.

"Sorry about that." Jason said, quickly grabbing a different one from the tray while Ash awkwardly took the one they'd both had their eye on.

"Uh, it's alright."

"Umm, thanks, Meena. Keep up the good work." Nodding at Jason's speedy response, Meena quickly moved onto the next rehearsal space with the refreshments, leaving the two porcupines by themselves. Neither moved nor spoke for the longest time. Only the faint sound of the others practicing in the other rooms filled the corridor.

"Y'know, we were never properly introduced yesterday." Ash's voice shattered the silence like glass. Taking a deep soothing breath through his nostrils, Jason nodded and put on his best casual smile.

"Huh. We weren't, were we?" he replied, twirling his cookie around through his fingers. "Well, uh, by all means, ladies first."

"The name's Ash. Glad to meet you."

"I'm Jason. The feeling's mutual."

"Hey, I just wanted to thank you." Jason cocked an eyebrow.

"For what?"

"For the compliment yesterday." Jason couldn't noticing her running her fingers through a couple of her quills, almost in a shy manner. "On my music. It, uh, it really meant a lot."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all. It's just, y'know, I know talent when I hear it."

"Thanks." Ash smiled her sweet smile with a tiny shrug of her shoulders to boot. With that, she took the smallest bite of her cookie.

 _Don't make it awkward. Keep the conversation flowing._

"Well, that and your, uh, boyfriend didn't seem to be giving you a whole lot of compliments." Jason just managed to not grimace at the memory of Lance's arrogant face. "Just thought you deserved _some_ positive feedback."

"Oh, don't worry about that." Ash waved her paw in a dismissive manner. "It was my fault anyway, I got a little over-excited and I forgot to stick to the plan we had for our performance." Jason wanted to object until his conscience reminded him of his lack of romantic experience.

 _I guess this is just how some couples work. Don't butt in on a subject you don't know anything about._

"If you say so." He responded at last. An awkward silence fell over the two again. Mercifully, Ash spoke up.

"I'm just sorry I didn't get to hear _your_ audition yesterday."

"Nah, it's okay. I mean, we're in the show together so chances are you'll get to hear me anyways." Remembering Ash's own audition, the corners of Jason's mouth curled upward into an impressed smile. "Besides _your_ audition was amazing. I mean, I've listened to rock my entire life but to actually _see_ it performed first-hand is just... incredible. _Huge_ spectacle." Ash once again brushed her quills at his compliment.

"Thanks." She replied humbly, diverting her eyesight down at the floorboards, "I've been practicing since I was eight."

"I can tell." Jason gave a small chuckle. "I mean, you make it look so easy. Your fingers were just _flying_ over the…" The porcupine awkwardly mimicked playing his own guitar as Ash watched with an amused smile. "Uh… wooden bar… thingie. With the… strings."

"You mean, the neck?" Ash raised a playful eyebrow.

"Uh, yeah, that." Jason grinned awkwardly, resorting to take a bite of his own cookie.

"Something tells me you're not the kind of music lover who plays an instrument."

"It's that obvious, huh?" The female porcupine chuckled in response to Jason's comment. "Well my point still stands about your guitar skills."

"Yeah." Ash's smile contorted into a disappointed scowl as she remembered her assigned performance style. "Shame I won't get to use 'em thanks to a certain oblivious koala."

"Then how come I heard a pretty sweet guitar solo coming from your rehearsal space when I opened my door?" Jason asked, raising his eyebrow jokingly. Ash instantly blushed sheepishly beneath her fur.

"Oh, that." She scratched the space behind her ear with a guilty smile.

 _She may be a rocker but she's so adorable._

"Well I bought it with me in case Moon _did_ have any rock songs planned for me. And, well, you saw how that turned out." Her face fell at the memory of Moon's orders but perked up again. "But that doesn't mean I can't practice some of my own music while I'm here." Jason then gave a scowl of his own, remembering his song sheet.

"Yeah, I'm gonna take a wild guess and say he's never interacted with a teenager in his life." Ash laughed slightly before frowning once more.

"I'll say. I mean, you should see my song choices." Although she was now ranting, Jason couldn't help smiling at the sheer adorableness Ash put into her angry gestures. "Carly Rae Jepson? Kesha? This is what my _grandma_ thinks all teenage girls like. It's like he didn't even pay attention to my audition."

"I know the feeling." Jason nodded. "The ones he gave me have higher pitches than I'm used to. At least you can most likely sing yours clearly."

"Ouch, that sucks."

"I know. I tried to get him to change his mind but that failed miserably." Putting his right paw into his jean pocket, Jason breathed a tiny sigh of annoyance before biting into his cookie again. "Guess he has a _very_ specific vision for this show. And my grandpa always says you can't stop a guy with a vision." Jason's chewing suddenly stopped at the feel of a warm paw on his arm. Directing his eyes away from the floor, he found himself gazing at Ash once more, this time much closer and with a reassuring smile on her face.

"Well who knows? We got a few days until the show arrives, I'm sure you can work on it in that time." Giving a small supportive pat on his arm, Ash finally removed her paw just as Jason was beginning to blush under his face fur.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely." He nodded before glancing up at the clock on the wall. He then realised the two of them had been chatting for quite a while now.

"Well, uh, guess break time's over for me. Don't let me stop you from rockin' and rollin', as I think they say." The two porcupines smiled at one another as they each took a step back. It was as if neither wanted to break away from the other's gaze.

"Heh, yeah." Ash gave a shrug followed by a nod of acknowledgement. "Looking forward to hearing your performance."

"Me too. … _Your_ performance, I mean, not mine." He pretended to stumble over his words, giving a jokey smile for emphasis. That earned him a smile from Ash in return.

"I figured."

Neither porcupine looked away until they finally made it back to their practice rooms. Shutting the door behind him, Jason took one last glance through the glass, smiling as Ash picked her guitar up once more and began shredding away. It took him quite a while to finally tear his eyes away and get back to his own rehearsing.

* * *

"Hey, Jason! How'd your first day of rehearsal go?"

Closing the door behind him, Jason gave the best smile he could muster over his frown as Stephanie made her way down the stairs, clad in a casual striped shirt and dark jeans.

"Yeah, it went fine." His frown quickly returned as he pulled his crumpled song sheet out of his pocket, "But look at the song suggestions Mr Moon gave me!" Straightening it out, he held it in front of his sister's face. She didn't seem to register his frustrated tone, her smile only growing as her eyes scanned over the listed songs.

"Whoa, nice choices." She stated, clearly impressed.

"Are you kidding? These songs are just… I can't sing these!" With that, Jason unceremoniously let the sheet flutter out of his paw. Before it could even touch the floor, Stephanie leant down and caught it in the blink of an eye before looking up at her brother with a cocked eyebrow.

"What do you mean? Why not?"

"The octaves are too high for my voice!" The porcupine explained, almost ready to tear his quills out as Buster's annoyingly peppy attitude flooded his memories. "What that koala's asking from me is impossible, these songs are well out of my comfort zone! It's just… it's not me!" Wearing a face that screamed scepticism, Stephanie placed a paw on her hip.

"Oh, I thought you 'weren't interested' in this competition."

"Well I-I'm not!" Jason tried to reply as nonchalantly as possible while Stephanie calmly watched with a smug grin. "It's just, well, I know my limits and these songs… I mean, they…" His babbling stopped when his sister held up a silencing paw.

"Well it never hurts to _try_ stepping out of your comfort zone, big brother." Stephanie responded, casually folding the song sheet in her fingers. "You'll never know for certain you can't sing these songs unless you try."

"Stephanie…" She took no notice of Jason's protests as she neatly tucked the folded-up paper into the quills atop his head, followed by a pet on the cheek.

"Now how's about you get upstairs to your room and keep on practicing, huh? You got a busy week ahead of you." Jason's annoyed frown only deepened as his sister smiled sweetly, placing her paws behind her back in an innocent manner. An annoyed sigh escaping his lips, he yanked the paper out of his quills and begrudgingly began making his way upstairs.

"Sometimes I really don't like you." He muttered loud enough for Stephanie to hear him.

"I know _that's_ not true!" She called over her shoulder, still smiling as she went into the kitchen. Groaning in irritation, Jason reached the top before dragging his tired feet into his room and shutting the door.

And just like earlier that day, Jason spent the whole hour just staring at the sheet and quietly humming the lyrics under his breath. He'd been walking around the bedroom so much, there was practically a footprint-patterned circle decorating the floorboards. But just like earlier that day, it wasn't that he didn't _know_ them; he just _couldn't_ sing them, no matter how much he wanted to try. What if he chickened out when he got to a high note? Or what if he attempted a high note and hurt his throat? Maybe Craig or Alex would hear him and subject him to more ridicule. Or maybe…

" _Dinner's ready!"_

Letting out a long-held breath of relief at his mother's shout, Jason slammed the sheet down on the bed and flung open his bedroom door, making his way downstairs.

 _Just keep your promise to Grandpa and put up with this until it's all over._

Although he kept repeating that mantra in his head, Jason did manage to take _some_ comfort in the fact that even with a list of difficult-to-sing songs under his belt, his new acquaintance would make these next few days will be somewhat more bearable.

 ***I do not own the rights of the movie 'Sing'. All rights go to Illumination Entertainment.**

 **Also, Calvin. You think "Jason will go after Meena"? Are you SERIOUS? Why would he and Meena get together when the story tags are clearly** _ **Ash**_ **and OC?**


	8. War and Peace

**Soooo I took a look back at the reviews and it appears I was mistaken. Calvin in fact did NOT mean Jason will go after Meena as in "try to get together with her" but he meant it as in Jason will sing his song after Meena in the finale. I apologise for that stupid misunderstanding of mine.**

 ** **As for you hoping he'll sing "Glorious", I already have it planned out what he's going to sing in the final show and it's NOT that song. What song he'll sing instead, I won't say. But I _will_ say that there's some foreshadowing of the song choice earlier in the story.****

 **Now that we got the apologies and explanations out of the way, let's move on, shall we? :)**

 **I do not own the movie Sing. I only own my OC, Jason.**

 **Enjoy and don't forget to leave a review! :)**

"Yep, this is gonna take a _lotta_ getting used to."

Rubbing the last remaining bit of sleep out of his eyes, Jason gave the amphitheatre doors a shove and made his way down the corridor to the stage. He could say he was getting better at waking up early for rehearsals, but that'd be a giant lie. If Stephanie hadn't burst into his room and yanked the covers off him, he'd have missed the bus.

Jason tiredly made his way backstage as he fished his crumpled sheet out of his pocket, noticing that nearly everyone else was there already. While waiting for Rosita to arrive, Gunter was helping himself to a sandwich from the refreshments tray. Johnny, from the sounds of it, was just sitting down upstairs and practicing a few notes on the piano. The frogs were already in their rehearsal room, engaged in quite the heated argument, while Pete the camel simply wandered around and gazed at his surroundings.

"Good morning, Jason." Smiling, the porcupine turned around to the source of that familiar gentle voice. Meena was just making her way down the stairs from Moon's office, clad in her usual blue hoodie with baggy jeans and pink sneakers.

"Morning, Meena." He replied kindly.

"Bright-eyed and early, just what I like to see, Jason!" Startled, both their heads whirled around to be greeted by the koala, once again seeming to have appeared out of nowhere. Jason repressed his frustrating memories of Buster's selected songs for him and put on the friendliest smile he could muster.

"Nice to see you again, Moon." He added for good measure.

"Right then, Jason, I want you to carry on going over your songs until you find the one that suits you best. Pretty soon, you're gonna have to show me what you got."

"Umm, sure thing, Mr. Moon." Jason was about to raise his paw in protest against his song choices until the voice of his sister echoed in his mind loudly:

 _It never hurts to try stepping out of your comfort zone, big brother. You'll never know for certain you can't sing these songs unless you try._

Mentally sighing to himself, Jason lowered his slightly-raised paw. Besides, he figured, even if he did object to Buster's song choices, he'd probably end up being on the receiving end of another corny platitude.

"Yeah, yeah, you got it." The porcupine said at last, though it came out in an uninterested-sounding mutter. Moon, of course, didn't notice and instead turned his attention to the elephant teen.

"And Meena, I need you backstage with me for Mike's rehearsal."

"Heh, it'll be nothin' but smooth sailing, Mr. Moon!" As if on cue, the vermin himself strode past Meena's ginormous feet, straightening the lapels of his red suit like he owned the place. If he was _trying_ to make Jason dislike him more with every sentence that came out of his mouth, he was succeeding beautifully.

"'Bout time I showed you schmucks what a _real_ talented singer is." Mike stated, holding his paw to his chest pompously with a grin to match. Before he could stop himself, Jason fired back at the mouse with a condescending statement of his own.

"Ooh, goodie, lemme know when he gets here." The porcupine could help smirking in satisfaction as that arrogant smile instantly dissolved from Mike's face, quickly replacing it with a mixture of shock followed by an insulted glare. Jason narrowed his eyes in return as Moon thankfully stepped in-between them before it got any uglier.

"Now, now, there's no need for any animosity between the contestants." Mike's tensed shoulders lowered but he still held his dirty look at Jason, who just stared back in contempt. "Now, Mike, if you please, let's get you onstage and see whatcha got."

Finally turning on his heel, the mouse brushed off his suit flaps and followed Buster to the backstage door, as if he'd never acknowledged Jason in the first place. The porcupine only rolled his eyes disdainfully.

"Was that really necessary?"

Snapping out of it, Jason's frown softened as he turned to look at Meena, realising how uncomfortable she must've felt throughout that whole ordeal.

"Sorry 'bout that." He apologised, stuffing his paws into his jeans. A little hostility returned to his tone as he glanced in Mike's direction. "But a guy with an attitude like that is no friend of mine. If he can't treat any of us with kindness or respect, why does _he_ deserve any?"

"Jason, please…" Looking up at the elephant again, Jason sighed through his nostrils at the almost puppy-like eyes she was giving him.

"Alright, I'm sorry." Jason replied mildly, "I'll try to hold back on the hostility."

 _The key word being 'try'._

"Meena, with me please!" The koala's voice called from the stage. Remembering her assigned task, Meena began making her way to the stage door.

"Well keep up the good work, Meena." Jason called after her.

"Thanks." With an appreciative smile, she closed the door behind her. Jason was about to head to his rehearsal space until the sound of another door opening broke the silence. Turning, he smiled at the sight of Ash coming down the steps from the fire exit door, guitar case clenched in her paw. And upon noticing him, she smiled in return.

"Hi, Jason."

"Hey there, Ash." Taking a quick glance at the clock upon the wall, Jason realised he has once again arrived at rehearsals before she did. In the mood for a little comedy, the porcupine held his paw behind his back and straightened an imaginary pair of glasses, attempting to look as stuck-up as possible.

"Late again, I see." He asked, complete with a raised eyebrow and an elderly British accent to boot. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Shame on you, Miss Ash. This is _most_ unorthodox." For a split second, Ash looked a bit ashamed but that quickly evaporated into an amused smirk when she recognised it as a joke.

"Shut up, you goof." She replied, giving Jason a friendly punch on the arm, "I just overslept."

Jason rubbed his arm better, still smiling playfully. "Man, at the rate _I'm_ waking up late and still beating you to rehearsals, I'll probably win this contest by a landslide."

Ash just rolled her eyes, grinning in return. "Yeah, when pigs fly."

"Actually, _mein opa_ was a pilot!" Came a plucky voice from the other side of the hall. The two porcupine's smiles faded in slight annoyance as they turned to see Gunter in his sparkling gold coat and pants from yesterday. The rotund pig gave a little wave to the pair of them, his third sandwich that morning in his other hand.

"It's just a figure of speech, Gunter." Ash called back to him.

"Oh, I know, I know." The pig replied, showing absolutely no offense at all. Despite his interruption, Ash and Jason couldn't help smiling slightly at his enthusiasm, giving a little side glance to each other. "But still, no harm in a little making ze jokes, _ja?"_

"No, I guess not." Jason replied at last. Finishing off the sandwich in one bite, Gunter whipped off his gold clothing in barely a second to reveal his signature red leotard underneath, that happy-go-lucky smile still present on his face.

"Well, better get ready for ze warm-up with Rosita. We all got lots to do for ze big day, no?" Trying not to let his nervousness show at the mention of the 'big day', Jason gave a quick nod.

"Yeah, 'spice things up onstage' and all that jazz." He added with a supportive smile. He then raised an eyebrow in surprise as Gunter let out a loud guffaw in response.

"Ha! All zat _'jazz'!_ Is good music joke, Jason!" With that, the pig made his way into his rehearsal space and shut the door, still chortling at Jason's unintentional pun.

"Wow, even when you're not trying to be funny, you crack others up." Ash stated, folding her arms with a teasing smile. Deciding to play along, Jason pretended to straighten his hoodie in a vain manner.

"Well it's a gift." He dropped his fake smirk with a chuckle as Ash gave him a playful shove on the shoulder.

"Excitable, isn't he?" Jason looked over his shoulder in amusement to see Gunter doing stretches through the glass of his room. Following his gaze, Ash let out a chuckle.

"I'll say." Jason turned back to her, looking curious this time.

"Do you know if he's even in this competition for the prize money?"

The girl porcupine paused for a moment, thinking back to yesterday. "Well, from what I overheard from Rosita yesterday, he's here… just for fun."

"Really?" Jason asked before the smile came back to his face. "Well good on him."

"Yeah, I've watched plenty of singing contests on TV and I don't think I've _ever_ seen a contestant that eager about the thing he loves as him."

That little comment made Jason pause for a moment; Gunter wasn't here for any attention, any prize or any desire for fame. He was taking part merely because he loved doing what he did. Nothing more or less. And… what was so bad about that?

"Well better go and practise my pop." Jason blinked, snapping out of his thoughts and giving a small nod of understanding.

"Guess so." Came his swift reply. "And, uh, wish me luck on my high notes."

Ash smirked playfully. "Yeah, we're both gonna need it to survive the next few days."

It wasn't until he entered his own rehearsal space and leant against the door that his polite smile dropped.

"Ain't that the truth?" He murmured, fishing his song sheet out of his hoodie pocket. Once again glowering down at the list of accursed songs, Jason gave a sharp exhale through his nostrils before glancing at the CD player on the chair across from him, ready and waiting. Repeating his sister's words softly, the porcupine walked over and hovered his finger above the play button.

If he was going to take part in this competition, he was going to need to perform _something._ No more slacking off. No more murmuring the lyrics. No more scanning over the songs.

Only singing.

" _Fine."_

Jason pressed the button.

 **Hehe, clever title, huh? Like the book by Leo Tolstoy? And how it references the "war" between Mike and Jason and the "peace" he feels when talking to Ash? Okay, I'll shut up now.**

 **Since I've been off for a majority of the summer searching for work, I thought you guys deserved a little something with the dreaded September returning and whatnot. **Also thought I'd throw in a few more interactions between Jason and the other contestants before I carry on with the romance. But don't worry, I promise the next chapter will have all the Jason and Ash fluffiness you could ever dream of. ;)****

 ***I do not own the rights to the movie Sing. All rights go to Illumination Entertainment**


	9. What A Friend

**I know, I know.**

 **I am so sorry for the late update (again) but I've had a TONNE of crap going on in my life, mainly to do with moving into a new house recently, sorting out boxes, figuring out how we're gonna fix up the rooms, trying to keep the family from eating each other, sprucing up my new bedroom and of course preparing for Christmas. For a while, we hadn't even got the Wifi going yet so I had to rely on my local coffee shop for internet access. Plus I'm still searching for a secure job, attending interviews, working at my voluntary job and whatnot.**

 **So as you can imagine, I've fallen under pretty stress-filled times. But that doesn't mean I'll stop writing to keep my audience happy. Besides I think you guys deserve an early Christmas present. :)**

 **And I'll admit, I wasn't that impressed with my last chapter. I feel like I was just pushing myself to get** _ **something**_ **out and it just felt like filler. I don't want to write the most rushed and shoddy work imaginable and just conclude "Yep, good enough". So hopefully this one will make up for it.**

 **I do not own the movie Sing. I only own my OC, Jason.**

 **Enjoy and don't forget to leave a review! :)**

Things could have been going a little better.

Before Jason could even get started on his rehearsal, a spontaneous chain of events had led to some stage lights crashing down and bursting into flame, followed by a swinging sandbag knocking Pete flat. Thankfully Jason had come running backstage after hearing the commotion and hastily phoned the hospital for the poor camel and his injured neck. To top it all off, after having seen the ambulance off, the frog trio's constant squabbling had led to them storming out of the theatre and quitting the show altogether.

Using a paw to massage his temples, the porcupine followed Buster back into the auditorium where the chaos had begun. Miss Crawley was currently helping Meena to put out the last of the fire onstage.

"Alright, we're two acts down. Give me some good news, Miss Crawley." The worried koala pleaded, making his way down the aisle.

"Oh, it's not as bad as it looks, sir." Miss Crawley replied. Just as the piece of stage she was standing on collapsed beneath her.

"Oopsy-daisy." She added meekly. Jason immediately ran up onto the stage to gently pull the lizard out. After a brief sigh, Moon immediately brightened up and pointed to Meena.

"Meena. How'd you like to re-audition for the show?" The teenage elephant's eyes lit up with pure delight.

"Really? Well, yeah…" she replied, her excited tone fading somewhat.

"Great!"

"I mean, no." Buster and Jason both furrowed their eyebrows.

"What?" Meena's fingers anxiously drummed against the fire extinguisher in her grasp.

"I-I mean, yes, I can sing. But no, I get so nervous and… I-I can't do it. I mean, I would _totally_ do it but, uh… no, I... No." Buster just looked at her in contemplation.

"I'm gonna take that as a maybe." He said at last. Jason was about to speak up until the peppy sound of Japanese singing grabbed his attention. A familiar bunch of giggling red pandas whizzed past a gap in the curtains.

"Great! Look, they're back!" Buster cried ecstatically, giving chase after them as Mrs Crawley plodded along behind. "Uh, we're gonna come back to this, Meena!" The moment he disappeared backstage, Jason turned to look up at Meena.

"You didn't tell me you auditioned for the show." He remarked, his tone laced with interest. Meena only glanced down at the broken floorboards sadly.

"Well I-I did, but the thing is…" She sighed. "I just have _really_ bad stage fright." Jason's eyes softened with sympathy as she explained further.

"And I arrived for the auditions first thing in the morning too. But when it was my turn, I just… I got so scared and, uh…" Her shoulders drooped as she let out a defeated sigh.

"I left."

With that, she turned and started trudging slowly back towards the curtains. Jason followed suite.

"Just like that?" The porcupine asked. "You didn't ask for another chance?"

"Well that's just it." Meena replied, placing the extinguisher back on its holder. "My grandpa convinced me to go back and ask Mr Moon to let me re-audition, but… I ended up getting this job instead."

Jason nodded in understanding as all the pieces came together in his mind. His smile quickly came back as he remembered the koala's recent proposal.

"Well on the bright side, he's finally offered you that chance now." That didn't seem to make Meena's mood any more positive.

"Yeah, but… I mean, singing with my family around is one thing," she sighed, staring down at the floor forlornly, "But singing in front of an entire theatre… It-It's just… I can't." Jason wanted to tell Meena what his own grandpa had said about needing to take a chance the moment it's given to someone. But one couldn't just make someone get over stage fright simply by telling them to get over it. These sorts of things hardly ever worked like that. Finally he reached up and gave Meena's giant hand a reassuring pat, snapping out of her sad trance.

"Meena, if that's how you feel, then I won't force you to choose." He said gently. "You've been nothing but kind and helpful to everyone since you got here. And if you end up deciding not to, I promise I won't think any less of you." Looking down at the porcupine for a moment, Meena finally gave him a thankful smile which he returned. Jason then made his way to the stage door leading back to the rehearsal area.

The moment he pulled it open, the red panda group stormed past him with indignant frowns and out of the theatre doors. Standing in the doorway to his rehearsal room, Buster gave up on trying to convince them to come back and picked up his Japanese dictionary from the floor.

"Well so much for that idea." He muttered, rubbing his cheek in pain. "Okay, uh, Jason, you just get back to rehearsing, I'll think of something else." As the koala agitatedly walked off, Jason stopped staring and made his way back into the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Ooookay then, back to business." He said to himself, pressing down on the PLAY button and starting his CD over again.

The first few notes of _All Star_ instantly began blaring out of the speakers. Having heard this song countless times, Jason was in no need of a lyrics sheet. For the most part, he powered through the first verse okay. But when it came to the higher-octave repeating of "all that glitters is gold" near the middle, that's where he faltered.

Sadly that was the case with the rest of the songs he whizzed through.

Whenever they had a high note and he tried to hit it, he either sung the wrong note or his voice cracked and it came out as a screech instead. Every time that happened, Jason paused the CD and looked around frantically to make sure no one outside his rehearsal space had heard him.

Especially Ash.

He remembered how she could hit the high notes effortlessly, compared to his own embarrassing attempts. Of course, being a girl made the high notes easier for her but even so, he still couldn't help feeling a tiny twang of jealousy. By the time he'd forced himself through the last song on the CD, he was a wreck; how could he be expected to perform on the night of the contest if he couldn't get even _one_ of the songs a hundred percent right?

 _Maybe another break would be good._ The porcupine thought at last. It was silly of him to keep using breaks as an excuse to not sing anything but at this point, a breather was most _definitely_ welcome. Shoving open his door, Jason breathed a heavy sigh as he stepped out into the barren foyer wearily, looking around hopefully for someone to engage in a conversation with.

 _Come to think of it, I haven't really talked to the lady pig._ He pondered to himself. _What was her name again… Rosanne, I think? Rosie? No, Rosita, that's it._

Walking over to her rehearsal space to the right, Jason pushed open the door to be greeted by the sight of Rosita neatly laying many sheets of paper across the floor. It was then he realised they made up a giant dancing diagram, patterned with multi-coloured footprints and directions.

"Dancing, huh?" He asked, breaking the silence. Flinching in surprise, Rosita whipped around to see the young porcupine standing in the doorway.

"Oh, you really gave me a fright there." She breathed with a light smile, placing a cloven hoof on her chest.

"Sorry about that." Jason replied sheepishly, giving the back of his ear a tiny scratch. "Um, you're Rosita, am I right?" Rising to her feet, the pig held the rest of her dancing sheets under one arm and held out her other hoof to him.

"And you're Jason if I'm not mistaken." Smiling back, the young porcupine gladly shook it. "Congratulations on getting into the show."

"Thanks, you too. Do you, uh, need any help laying these out?" Jason gestured to the half-finished dance diagram covering the floor.

"Are you sure you're not too busy?"

"Nah, it's alright. I'm taking a break anyway." Smiling gratefully, Rosita handed him half the sheets from under her arm. The two of them then set to work spreading them out.

"So you and Gunter, duo act?" Jason broke the silence at last, glancing across at Rosita.

"That's right. Something to, uh, spice things up onstage, as Mr. Moon said."

"So I heard. I've talked with Gunter yesterday and he's _definitely_ the spirited type."

"He sure is." The pig replied with a small chuckle. "You won't believe how much his energy wears me down in rehearsals."

"And judging from this sheet we're laying out, I'm guessing you're dancing _with_ him?" Jason asked, waving one of the paper pieces in his paw for emphasis.

"Well he's more of a dancer than I am." Rosita explained, taking on a more determined expression. "This is just to help me get in touch with the steps better. If I can memorise these steps, hopefully singing at the same time won't be too much trouble for me."

Nodding in acknowledgement, Jason placed the last sheet of paper in its place before rising to his feet. "Right, I think that's all of them."

"Great! Thanks for your help, Jason" Rosita replied. She was about to pull herself up but knelt down again to straighten a few of the sheets. "Do you think you could get the music for me please? Track 4?"

"Oh, sure." Walking over to Rosita's own CD player in the corner, he switched it on and instantly the opening guitar from _Venus_ began blaring out. At that moment, Gunter appeared in the doorway.

"Ah, _Guten Tag_ , Jason!" He greeted the porcupine with a wide smile along with a friendly wave.

"Nice to see you, Gunter." Jason replied, making his way around Rosita and her dance sheet. "I was just helping out Rosita." Gunter finally took interest in the sheet spread across the floorboards as his partner made the final touches.

"Oh, vat is zis for?"

"Now we use this to follow the steps." Rosita explained, standing up with her microphone ready. Jason and Gunter watched with confusion as she began singing the first few lines very well and moved across the coloured steps on the sheets. Albeit very stiffly.

 _Okay, she_ _ **definitely**_ _has a long way to go before she's ready to dance in front of anyone._

"I'll, uh, leave you to it." Jason murmured across to Gunter, giving him a 'good luck' pat on the shoulder before leaving their rehearsal space. He just barely managed to avoid a piglet whizzing past him and into the room, making airplane noises as he speed sent the sheets flying in all directions.

"Caspar! Caspar, no!" Rosita protested as the young one carried on. Gunter watched with interest as Jason gave an amused smile at the chaos before carrying on his way.

 _Heh, just like Stephanie when she was younger._ He thought to himself. Those thoughts quickly evaporated at the sound of two bickering voice coming from Ash's rehearsal space, accompanied by the opening notes of _Call Me Maybe._ Curious, Jason made his way up the steps and watched from her open doorway as the back-and-forth arguing continued. Ash just stood there in annoyance as Buster moved his body slightly to the song's beat.

"I am _not_ singing this!"

"What's not to like?" Moon asked obliviously. "You're a female and you're a teenager. This song was _made_ for you!" Jason rolled his eyes at this blatant stereotyping.

"Wow, it's like you can see inside my tiny teenage mind." Came Ash's reply, dripping with sarcasm to Jason's amusement. Buster, of course, remained unaware.

"I know, right? You just gotta add some moves and a little bit of…" With that, the koala began dancing and singing along to the chorus, completely unaware of how stupid he looked doing so. Both porcupines just gave the most deadpan stares imaginable until Moon thankfully stopped. "Go for it!"

"Oh, you mean like this?" Ash asked in a faux sweet voice, before giving her own cynical spin on the last bit. Jason was both amused and yet awestruck in that despite her clearly sardonic performance, her voice was still amazing. Striking a pose with a shake of her quills, Ash's phony smile quickly dropped at Buster's positive reaction.

"There ya go! You're a natural! You perform exactly like that onstage, you're gonna blow the whole audience away!" He cried out, excitedly making his way out the door. "Oh, hey, Jason." Finally taking notice of the male porcupine, Ash hurriedly smoothed out the ruffles in her skirt and cleared her throat.

"H-How long have you been standing there?" She asked, flustered.

"Sorry for not knocking." Jason answered awkwardly, stepping into her rehearsal space before smiling in an amused way. "So cheesy pop's not your style, huh?"

"Hey, I didn't expect him to _like_ it." Ash replied with a paw on her hip, still a little annoyed at the koala's demands

"Heh, now _that's_ living proof he's never interacted with a teenager in his life." When he saw Ash was still pretty agitated, however, Jason quickly dropped his jokey manner. Sighing, he shoved his paws into his jean pockets and glanced dejectedly at the wall mirrors.

"Look, if it's of any consolation, my rehearsals aren't exactly going smoothly either. For…" He paused. "…various reasons."

"I guess that koala is really starting to get under _both_ our skins." Ash muttered, looking across at her shimmering guitar neatly upright on its stand. Following her gaze, Jason immediately understood; how she'd be prepared to blow the audience away with her rock n' roll yet got roped into performing a music genre that was the complete opposite of her personality. And here he was on the receiving end of Buster demanding he sing songs with notes way out of his comfort zone. All the stress. The exhaustion. The utter disappointment for both of them.

Before he could stop himself, all the male porcupine's stress finally unloaded in the form of a question.

"You wanna go out for coffee after rehearsals?" Her eyes popping open fully, Ash stopped looking around awkwardly and turned her attention to him.

"Sorry?" She asked, staring at him. Breathing in through his nose as boldly as he could, Jason elaborated.

"Well the way I see it, we're both pretty stressed out about this whole competition and Moon's expectations for it and whatnot. So why not, right? I think we could both do with something to get our minds off this." Ash said nothing, her stare drifting away from him and down towards the floorboards in deep thought.

"Unless you're busy tonight, in which case, that-that's fine." Jason added on awkwardly, beginning to turn towards the door slightly. "What with your boyfriend and music and all…"

"No, no, no, that sounds great!" Jason stopped cold at the feeling of Ash's paw seizing his. Spinning round to look at her, surprised, she realized what she was doing and quickly let go, scratching behind her ear. "I'm in no rush to get home tonight and I… actually haven't been out for coffee in a while." She finally looked up with a tiny smile, her sparkling eyes gazing into his own.

"So… yeah, I'd like that." Lost in her eyes for what felt like eternity, Jason finally gave a grateful smile back to her.

"Okay then, cool." He replied, "Let's carry on through this and I'll catch you after rehearsals are done?"

"You got it." Ash nodded, making her way back over to her CD player. Nodding in return, Jason made his way out the door, content in his expressions but soaring with joy on the inside. At last, a break from all the contest pressure that didn't involve sitting up in his bedroom all evening. Just a nice, quiet meetup with one of his new friends. It couldn't get any better than that.

It wasn't until Johnny almost ran into him that he snapped out of his jubilant thoughts.

"Whoa, s-sorry about that, Jason!" the gorilla stuttered, regaining his balance.

"It's alright, Johnny." He replied, too happy to care. "Hey, me and Ash are going out for coffee after rehearsals. You up for it?"

"Sorry, wish I could but I got some family stuff to take care of, so I'll see ya later." Johnny answered in a hurried state before running out the doors, leaving a very puzzled Jason in his wake.

"Umm… alright then."

* * *

The moment rehearsals had ended, Ash had texted Lance about her plans for that evening complete with some reassurance it was just a hangout with a friend. And Jason had told his mother that he'd be home slightly later than usual. Now the two porcupines stood at the front entrance to a quaint little shack on the street corner, animals pouring in and out of its doors. Above was a neon cup with luscious eyelashes and lipstick complete with the name.

 _"Brew-tiful?"_ Ash gave an incredulous sideways glance at Jason who responded with an equally amused smile of his own.

"Eh, don't let the dumb name fool you." He said, holding the door open for her. "I promise you, this is the best dang coffee shop I've ever visited." Once the pair of them had entered, Ash took in the charming surroundings. Animals sat at different tables, locked in conversation with one another while the aroma of fresh coffee lingered and the beat of a classic 60s rock song blared from the radio speakers. The entire establishment glowed with the warm orange lights as the staff went back and forth to various customers, different orders balanced neatly in their grasp.

"Alright, I'll take your word for it." Ash said with a casual shrug, though nonetheless quite enthralled as she glanced at the menu written in chalk above the counter. "This stuff does sound pretty good." Jason managed to give her a nod just as they reached the front of the queue.

"Hi there, could I get a slice of cherry cheesecake and a cappuccino please?" Jason asked the dog behind the counter who quickly wrote down the order.

"Sure thing." The dog then turned to Ash. "And how about you?" Looking back up at the menu quickly, Ash made her choice.

"Uh, yeah, can I get a white coffee with a piece of fudge cake?"

"Alright then, that's $12.70 please." Ash was about to reach into her pocket for her wallet when an arm shot across in front of her.

"Nah, it's alright, I got it." Watching Jason in surprise as he retracted his arm and pulled out his own wallet, Ash contemplated how she usually paid for food whenever she went with Lance to the nearest fast-food joint. But this time was… different, with how willing and casual Jason seemed about doing so.

"Okay, just find a table and we'll bring it over to you shortly." Jason nodded at the dog before he and Ash started looking around for a free table.

"I wouldn't have minded paying, y'know." Ash said once they found a nice spot by the window.

"You kidding?" the male porcupine asked as he took his seat while Ash took hers, settling her guitar case down. "It's my treat, I put the offer on the table in the first place."

"Well… fair point." The two porcupines sat in silence for a moment before Jason's voice promptly shattered it like glass.

"So what are you in for anyway?" Ash stopped gazing around the restaurant and looked across the table at him.

"Sorry?"

"The contest, I mean. Any particular reason you entered?"

"Oh, right. It's for me and Lance." The female porcupine replied, giving her quills a brush.

"Your boyfriend?" asked Jason, grimacing in the inside as he though back to the other porcupine with the awful singing and bad attitude at the auditions.

"That's right." Ash nodded. "We're in our own band, we've gotten a few gigs at some restaurants here and there but nothing really big. But if I win, we could use that prize money to start our own label and build a recording studio. The whole world would know our names."

"Whoa, pretty big dreams." Jason nodded, clearly impressed with her ambitions. "In that case, I hope you win, seeing how I haven't really got my eyes on the prize." Ash raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"You serious?"

"Yeah, I entered this competition just to get away from my pain-in-the-neck boss." He replied with a shrug.

"So you're working?" Ash leaned forward slightly with interest.

"Nothing really fancy really." Came the response. "Just a part-time marketing assistant for JEC Insurance. Updating their social media, posting tips on how to be safe, that sorta thing."

"Huh." The female porcupine replied at last after a few moments of stunned silence. She'd never have pegged someone as considerate as him to be working for an insurance company of all places. "Not gonna lie, it doesn't sound all that exciting."

"Eh, it puts bread on the table at least so I can't bellyache too much." Jason stated flippantly. "But my family begged me to put my singing to some practical use, my sister especially, so I thought why not? I needed a bit of a break anyway."

"Oh, really?" The corners of Ash's mouth curled up into an amused grin. "And what are they like?"

"Well my mom's the neat freak and my dad's the typical paper-reading sporty guy." Jason's face contorted in annoyance as he remembered a certain pair of brothers. "As for my siblings, Craig and Alex are possibly the most annoying older brothers on the planet. You can have 'em if you want." Ash couldn't help giving a quiet giggle at that.

"Nah, I'm good." came her jokey reply as Jason's smile promptly returned.

"But my younger sister Stephanie is the social butterfly of the family. She and my Grandpa George are the ones who really love my singing and who convinced me to join."

"Oh, so I have them both to thank then." Jason raised an eyebrow curiously.

"For what?"

"You being here in the first place, of course." Ash replied, giving a pretty genuine smile.

"Heh. Guess so." Jason gave a small chuckle at this as he smiled back at her. It wasn't until a cow waiter practically appeared out of thin air and placed both their orders in front of them that they snapped out of their conversation. Steam from the coffee danced in the air while the glaze of both their cakes glistened in the restaurant's lights.

"Wow, quick service." Ash commented as Jason gave the departing waiter a grateful nod.

"Heh, wait until you taste the coffee itself." He replied. Pretending to look suspicious, Ash blew on her coffee gently before taking a sip. Her whole body instantly relaxed as the hot drink ran down her throat.

"Hm. Not bad." She said after savouring the flavour. Shrugging with an 'told you' look, Jason took a sip of his own coffee before setting the cup back down on the table.

"Any siblings yourself?" He asked.

"Nah, it was always just me and my parents." Ash replied, carving off a chunk of her fudge cake and popping it straight into her mouth. "Until I met Lance, that is. We were just two high-schoolers who had a thing for rock so we built up our own two-person band and here we are." Jason once again tried to resist scowling at the memory of her boyfriend.

"Yeah, it's a, uh, shame he didn't get in." Ash gave a small sigh.

"Yeah, but I did promise him I'd win the contest for both of us." Jason merely nodded as he ate a piece of his own dessert.

"But… I gotta say, for a boyfriend, he doesn't really seem like the… I dunno, caring type." Looking up from her plate, Ash raised one of her eyebrows.

"'Scuse me?" The male porcupine quickly raised his paws defensively.

"Well, y'know, with the way he was criticising your music at the auditions and all." He replied, "It just didn't seem all that supportive to me." Ash merely shook her head calmly.

"Believe me, Jason, you don't know Lance like I do." She stated in a nonchalant manner, taking a sip of her coffee. "He may not show it on the outside a lot of the time but he really _does_ care about me. Plus I _do_ have a tendency to get carried away during our performances so I see no harm in a little critique so I can improve." She may have said those words supposedly in a confident way, but something about her tone didn't sound entirely certain to Jason. He could've protested but remembering his complete inexperience with couples and romance in general, he didn't.

"Sure thing." Came his short reply. The only noise filling the air around them now was the radio's music and the various other discussions going on with the other customers. The two porcupines just sat there and took a sip of their hot drinks simultaneously. Until Jason looked down at Ash's guitar case beside her seat.

"So, rock, huh?" Following his gaze, Ash finished off the piece of cake in her mouth then gave a smile.

"Yeah, my dad introduced me to AC/DC at six." The female porcupine responded with a small chuckle, "Since then, I've always wanted to be the next Malcolm Young." Jason's face lit up like a Christmas tree at the mention of one of his favourite rock bands.

"No way, that was one of the first rock bands I listened to when I was a kid!" Likewise, Ash's smile also grew bigger.

"No kidding!" She replied, starting to go full fangirl mode now. Jason, of course, found that completely adorable. "I mean, say what you want about the vocals but you can't deny the instrumentals are _amazing!"_

"I know, right?" The male porcupine responded excitedly. "Y'know, Shoot To Thrill was the one I first listened to."

"It was Thunderstruck for me but Shoot To Thrill's pretty incredible too! Oh, and Back In Black." By this point, Ash was virtually a kid hyped up on sugar.

"Well that kinda goes without saying. But hey, while we're on rock bands, you can't forget Led Zeppelin either…" Jason replied in a sing-song voice. Now both porcupines were leaning across the table, practically touching noses as they listed of various bands.

"Ooh! Or Guns N' Roses!"

"Aerosmith!"

"Steppenwolf!"

"Bon Jovi!"

"Twisted Sister!"

"Black Sabbath!"

"Scorpions!"

"And the all-time best…!"

" _Queen!"_ They both finished at the same time. Noticing the total silence in the atmosphere, the two porcupines both looked sideways to see every animal at every table staring in their direction, the music having stopped too. Chuckling in an embarrassed manner, the two of them slowly sat back down, blushing underneath their fur. Everyone else meanwhile went back to their conversations as the radio started up again.

"So, uh, you're into the classics too?" Ash asked, clearing her throat.

"Heh, yep. Can't beat the songs of the 70s to the 90s." Jason stated, taking a chunk out of his cake and eating it, "It's a heck of a lot better than the electronic junk we have nowadays." Ash instantly rolled her eyes in disgust.

"Pfft, I'll say." She replied, "I like to imagine an agent always trying not to laugh as he says 'Don't worry, Mrs Minaj, your music is inspiring, honest!'" Her impression was so ridiculous, Jason couldn't help but laugh. Smiling back, Ash sat up straight and fiddled with her quills bashfully.

"Or that dubstep trash." She added on. It was Jason's turn to look sickened this time.

"Ugh, gag me."

"I mean, it's not even music, it's just noise."

"Like a microphone in a tumble dryer." Now Ash was the one who burst out laughing.

"Oh, man, this feels good." She said once she'd calmed down. Jason cocked an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Y'know, being able to laugh and spend some quality time with someone besides Lance. Especially with all the stress about the competition." Now that comment made Jason's evening.

"Guess it's a good thing I entered then." He replied, trying to look casual.

"Yeah. _Really_ good." Ash replied sincerely. Smiling back, Jason went to take another sip of his coffee only to taste nothing. Looking into the cup, he finally noticed it was all finished, complete with everything else they ordered.

"Wow, that went away quick." The female porcupine commented, looking quite surprised herself. Chuckling, Jason got up from his seat.

"Yep, guess we should get going."

* * *

It was completely dark by the time the pair of porcupines made it to Paradise Apartments. The whole journey there, Ash and Jason had done nothing but talk with each other. Whether it was about music, movies, their families or even the most trivial of matters, their conversation never died.

"And you _never_ thought of pursuing singing?" Ash asked, perplexed, as the bright lights of cars whizzed past the sidewalk.

"I guess I just saw it more as a hobby than a life-long profession really." Jason replied with a shrug. "I mean, my job pays well enough so that's okay for me."

"Well I haven't heard you sing yet, so maybe this competition can change your mind." Looking down at the pavement at her reply, Jason merely nodded.

"Yeah…" At last, the two stopped right outside the building, Ash fishing her keys out of her pocket.

"Gotta say, Jason, this evening was pretty great." She stated, smiling gratefully. "Thanks a lot."

"No problem." The male porcupine replied. "I better get home to my own plaaa…" At last, he realised where he was.

"Aw, crud." Ash's eyebrows quickly furrowed in concern.

"What's wrong?"

"Well I was so busy talking to you, I caught the train back to your place without realising." Jason explained, completely embarrassed as he scratched behind his ear. The moment the absurdity of this situation truly sunk in, Ash struggled to hold in her laughter.

"I'm so sorry about that." She managed to get out. Even Jason could help snickering.

"No worries, I can catch the nearest bus back. Shouldn't take too long hopefully." He responded.

"On the plus side, now you know where I live." She cocked an eyebrow with a smile. "And why stop there?" Jason merely looked confused as she lay her guitar case down on the pavement and opened it up, pulling out a pen after doing some searching.

"Stick out your paw."

"Uhh, okay?" Confused, Jason nonetheless held out his paw. Pulling the pen lid off with her mouth, Ash gently took hold of his paw and scribbled something into the metacarpal pad. Once done, Jason looked down at his paw as Ash put the pen back.

"Here's my number." She said, grinning. His eyes dancing over each digit scrawled on his palm, Jason eventually looked at her with gratitude.

"Huh. Thanks, Ash." He replied before smirking. "I'll, uh, call you maybe." He let loose a laugh as Ash gave his shoulder a playful shove.

"Oh, come on, you made it too easy." He defended, rubbing his shoulder as Ash picked up her guitar case with a laugh and a roll of her eyes. Making her way up the steps, she found the right key and pushed it into the lock, turning it and opening up the door. Before she entered, the female porcupine looked back at him, smiling thankfully.

"See you tomorrow, Jason."

"Yeah, see you later, Ash." Both their gazes never left each other's until the door sadly closed. Letting out a content sigh, Jason began making his way down towards the nearest bus stop, visions of Ash dancing in his mind all the way.

 _What a friend._

 **And we all know what happens to Ash the minute she goes into her apartment. :(**

 **But how's that for fluffiness, huh? (God, I love writing for these two) Well Merry Christmas!**

 ***I do not own the rights to the movie Sing. All rights go to Illumination Entertainment**


	10. From Bad To Worse

**I do not own the movie Sing. I only own my OC, Jason.**

 **Enjoy and don't forget to leave a review! :)**

Jason was starting to get used to this whole "waking up earlier" thing.

Heck, he didn't even need Stephanie to give him a wake-up call. Thanks to the events of last evening, he was in a much livelier mood when he arrived at the Moon Theatre. The moment he'd arrived home, he'd been bombarded with all kinds of questions from his sister about Ash. What she was like, how they met, if they'd kissed yet. Though somewhat disappointed when Jason assured her that it was just a friendly hangout, Stephanie was nonetheless ecstatic for him. Even Craig and Alex were slightly impressed.

For over a full hour, he'd happily chatted with all the contestants (except for Mike, of course). And he was midway through a conversation with Johnny on the staircase when the familiar sound of the fire door opening rang in his ears. Smiling to himself, Jason turned to see Ash come through the door. The porcupine got up from his comfy spot on the stairs and made his way towards her.

"Hey there, Ash." He said benignly. His smile faded somewhat as it seemed like she hadn't even heard him. She just walked past him and down the steps, staring down at the floorboards. Clearing his throat, Jason tried again.

"Hi, Ash." He said, slightly louder this time, though not so loud that he came across as rude. Finally lifting her head slightly, Ash turned to look at him. Jason's smile disappeared completely when he fully saw the glumness in her expression. She didn't even crack so much as a grin.

"Oh. Hey, Jason." She replied jadedly as she slowly chewed on a piece of gum.

"Ash, are you feeling okay?" Jason asked, placing a concerned paw on her shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Came her downcast reply. "Just… tired. That's all."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I didn't get that much sleep last night but I'll get better as the day goes on." Ash responded, gently brushing Jason's paw off her shoulder. "You don't have to worry."

"If you say so." He replied, albeit very doubtfully.

"Excuse me, can everybody come backstage please?" The elderly voice of Miss Crawley suddenly sounded from behind the curtains. "Mr. Moon has a special announcement to make." Their interests peaked, every animal, Meena included, made their way backstage, past all the many ropes and levers. Ash trudged along with them as Jason subtly looked in her direction.

"I was wondering when he was gonna show up." Mike muttered, shoving his way past the various feet in his path. Jason merely rolled his eyes at the rodent; at this point, he was used to his rudeness. The moment everyone was backstage, Mr Moon spun around to face them, a roll of blueprints clenched tightly in his fist.

"Now listen up!" The koala declared, "Tomorrow we're gonna have a full preview of the show, and our audience will be none other than Miss _Nana Noodleman_!" The moment that name was spoken, Jason along with everyone's expressions lit up with a mixture of anxiousness and amazement, complete with gasps and wows. He'd heard stories from his grandpa about Miss Noodleman but to have a stage legend actually _here_ judging their performances was incredible. And quite nerve-wracking.

"Nana Noodleman? She's still alive?" Mike asked with an "are you serious" laugh.

"Oh, yes, and believe me, she's got some pretty high standards." Buster replied with an excited smile of his own. "So today we're gonna have a full dress rehearsal! And I wanna see you _light_ _up_ the stage, folks!" With that, everyone quickly began making their way to their rehearsal rooms to prepare while Buster asked Miss Crawley and Meena to come with him.

The moment Jason entered his own room, that's when the nerves kicked in; he was expected to perform one of his songs for a celebrity audience member and he hadn't even fully mastered _any_ of them. If he tried to perform any of the high notes, he'd make a complete fool out of himself. But he couldn't just choose not to perform at all.

"Two minutes, everybody!" Moon's voice bellowed from the stage area. Snapping out of his worried trance, Jason grabbed his CD from the chair in the corner and studied each of his songs on the case:

 _All-Star by Smash Mouth_

 _You're Welcome by Dwayne Johnson_

 _If You Can't Rock Me by The Brian Setzer Orchestra_

 _Crash by The Primitives_

 _Into Yesterday by Sugar Ray_

 _Find Yourself by Brad Paisley_

 _Crocodile Rock by Elton John_

 _Paradise by Coldplay_

 _Careless Whisper by George Michael_

 _Friends by Blake Shelton_

 _I See Fire by Ed Sheeran_

Though the frustration at Moon's song choices for him briefly returned to his mind, Jason pushed it aside and scanned each title again.

 _Screw it._ He thought, finally settling on Friends. Opening his rehearsal space door, the porcupine stepped out into the corridor where Gunter was practicing his dance routine, adorning his glittery gold jacket with matching pants. As Moon rushed past to head up the stairs to his office, Jason looked to see Ash sitting on a stool against the wall, finally wearing that stupid 'popstar princess' dress.

And still looking very fatigued.

Frowning, Jason moved over to her and gently placed a paw on her back. She flinched slightly at his touch before looking up at him.

"Ash, are you _sure_ you're gonna be okay to perform today?" He asked firmly, "You don't have to push yourself, y'know."

"Yeah, I'll be fine, Jason, honest." Ash replied, that dejected tone still clear as crystal in her voice, "Can I just… be alone for a minute?" With that, before Jason could protest, the female porcupine got up and made her way backstage, finally choosing to sit on the bottom of the metal industrial steps that led up to the rigging.

"Real smooth there, Spike." Grimacing, Jason looked down at Mike who'd been leaning on the corner listening the whole time. He was dressed in a snappy purple suit with a matching hat, complete with a diamond-topped cane in his paw.

"If that's how she's gonna be onstage, that's one less loser to worry about." The mouse replied in that unbearably smug tone of his.

"Not if I punt you across the amphitheatre." Jason muttered to himself, moving away from him. Spotting Johnny out the corner of his eye, his bad mood softened slightly. Before he could even open his mouth to start a conversation, however, the gorilla had rushed past him and straight towards the exit, frantically pulling on his leather jacket.

"Wait, Johnny! Where are you going? We're about to start the rehearsal!" The porcupine called.

"Family stuff again, I'll be back in time, I promise, see ya in a bit!" Johnny called back hastily before slamming the door shut behind him.

 _Jeez, must be_ _ **really**_ _important family stuff._

"Okay, everyone! As of now, the dress rehearsal is in session!" Moon's bellowing voice sounded from the stage area. "Mike, let's see your act first!" Shrugging, Jason made his way backstage to the wings and leant against the wall as Mike swaggered onto the stage. The porcupine didn't even pay attention to anything he was singing. He was too busy looking across at Ash for the entirety of the song.

"Hey, Rosita, does Ash seem a little… off to you this morning?" He murmured to the pig sitting on a crate next to him. Following his gaze, she pressed her lips together in thought.

"She told me she was just feeling a little tired. Apparently she didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

"That's what she said to me." Jason replied, still keeping his eyes fixed on the female porcupine. "But… I dunno, that's just not what it looks like to me."

"Well let's just see how she handles things onstage. Maybe she'll be a bit more active then." Rosita assured him, setting her handbag down next to her. Then, as if on cue, the backing track to Mike's song finished following by the sound of Miss Crawley's applause.

"Bravo, Mike! Nana is gonna _love_ that!"

"Aww, you're too kind, Mr Moon." Mike replied, twirling his cane in his hand and confidently sashaying his way offstage.

"And I myself am loving the new suit, sir." Jason groaned at the koala's compliment. "Alright, can we see Ash next please?" Barely looking over her shoulder, Ash slowly clambered down from her spot on the metal stairs.

"Ash, let's get you out here!" Moon called again as she trudged towards the lit stage, still gazing down at the floor.

"Oh, stand back. Moody teenager coming through." Mike teased, stepping out of her way as Jason shot him a glare.

"Good luck, Ash." Meena whispered, giving a small thumbs-up as she adjusted the lighting with her trunk. Smiling towards her, Jason and Rosita both got up from their respective seats and moved so they had a good view of the stage from the wings. Ash finished adjusting the microphone to her height as the high-energy opening notes of Call Me Maybe began playing from the speakers.

At first, judging from the somewhat subdued way she began singing the lyrics, Jason assumed she was either still tired or still unenthusiastic about the song itself. But as it went on, both Buster and Miss Crawley's expectant smiles faded into confusion as Ash's voice started to falter. Her lips quivered as she blinked rapidly as if to stop tears from falling. By the time it got to the chorus, Ash was no longer in any shape to sing. Her trembling vocals finally collapsed into painful, heaving sobs as Rosita, Jason and Meena all stared in concern. The porcupine barely made it halfway through the chorus before she fell to her knees, clutching the microphone feebly.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, okay, enough of that!" Moon finally called out, before making a cutting motion towards Meena in the wings. "Cut it, cut it." Taking action, Jason also signalled for the teenage elephant to cut the music before running onstage and gently pulling the microphone away from Ash. As the music finally stopped, the porcupine continued with her agonised crying while Jason tried to somehow look into her clenched-shut eyes.

"Ash? What's the matter?" He asked softly, trying to make himself heard over the sobs.

"Okay, Ash, um…" Moon started, carefully approaching the edge of the stage. She didn't even acknowledge the koala or Jason. "Hey, come on, Ash… What is it, do you not like the dress?" Jerking her head to the left, Jason flinched as a few of the crying porcupine's quills launched out and embedded themselves in the stage. And Moon's face.

"Ow." The pained koala plucked one out as Ash ran off the stage and past Rosita and Meena, still crying her eyes out.

"Ash, what's wrong?" Rosita called worriedly as Jason pursued her. Leaning on the edge of a flight case, Ash buried her face in her arms as her body convulsed with each sob. Jason placed a cautious yet comforting paw on one of her heaving shoulders.

"Ash, what's the matter?" He gently asked again. "You can tell us." Her crying somewhat subsiding, Ash took her head out of her arms and looked at him, though tears still gushed from her eyes like a pair of waterfalls.

"Come on, Ash." Rosita said in that motherly tone of hers, propping herself up on the box and patting the spot next to her. "You'll feel a lot better if you tell us what's bothering you." Giving a loud sniff, the porcupine finally nodded and pulled herself up onto the box. Jason sat on the box's corner as Rosita fished a handkerchief out of her handbag, which Ash accepted.

"I… I-I went back inside my apartment last night... after I'd had c-coffee with you, Jason." She explained tearfully, wiping her eyes, "And… a-and when I got inside… Lance was _cheating_ on me!" Meena, Jason and Rosita's eyes widened.

"He didn't." replied Jason, his tone a mixture of shock and utter disgust.

"Uh-huh." Ash sniffed, stopping to blow her nose loudly. "H-He and this other girl were singing together and about to kiss!"

 _I knew there was something I hated about that guy!_ Jason thought, grimacing at the memories of Lance's insufferably smug face. Deep down, he resisting the urge to blurt out to Ash 'I told you so'. But now was most definitely _not_ the time for a comment like that.

"Oh, Ash… I'm so sorry." Meena said, kneeling in front of the crate and gazing at the porcupine with sympathetic eyes. "That's horrible." Ash furiously wiped at her eyes as more tears starting flowing.

"I kicked them both out but I just… I entered this contest for _us!_ I thought he cared about me! And then he goes and does _that_ behind my back! What did I do to deserve this?"

"Ash, sweetheart, you did nothing wrong." Rosita objected, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly, "What Lance did was terrible but don't you think for a _second_ that any of this was your fault."

"Yeah, he's nuts if he didn't consider you a good girlfriend." Ash's miserable expression greatly contrasted with the corner of her mouth curling up the tiniest bit at Jason's comment.

"That was a very mature thing you did, telling us about this." Rosita continued, "And if you ever need us to help you through this, we're here for you, Ash." As she blew her nose one last time, Jason gave Ash's arm a reassuring rub.

"If you ask me, you're better off without that… that…" Jason tried carefully to choose a description that wouldn't offend either Meena or Rosita. Thankfully Gunter popped out of nowhere to offer him one.

"Zat total super jerk dinkle-shplat!" The German pig finished in disgust. At first raising an eyebrow at the accurate-yet-odd insult, Jason quickly nodded.

"Yeah, what he said."

"Rosita! Gunter! You're on next!" Moon called from the amphitheatre, snapping them all back to reality. Meena quickly took her spot back by the lights panel as Gunter rushed onstage, an excited spring in each step he took. Before she got off the crate, Rosita quickly plunked her handbag onto Ash's lap.

"Here, there should be some gum or some candy in there somewhere, just help yourself." She said kindly before following her rotund partner as Ash gave a tiny grateful grin. Jason couldn't help giving a smile of his own; in just a matter of days, despite competing against one another for a pretty big prize, they'd had become a very tight band of friends. Well, aside from Mike, but still.

The sound of the exit doors banging open made Ash and Jason flinch in surprise as Johnny came running in, out of breath.

"Rosita, Rosita, Rosita, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" he cried as the mother pig stopped to look at him. "Can I take your place please?"

"Sure, Johnny, go ahead." She said without a moment's hesitation. Johnny smiled in gratitude until the opening of Shake It Off began playing over the speakers and Gunter was already getting a head start on the dancing.

"Okay, get ready cos I'm warning you! Zis stage is about to explode with major piggy power!" He cried, stripping down to his red leotard beneath his sparkling gold clothes.

"I'm so sorry, I have no control." Rosita murmured, making her way onstage with her mike as Johnny glanced at his watch with an impatient groan.

"Johnny, are you okay?" asked Jason, watching the gorilla fidget anxiously. "Did you take care of that family business?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah, it-it's fine. You don't need to worry." Came the fretful response. Cocking an eyebrow but ultimately deciding not to pry any further, Jason and Ash turned their attention back to Rosita. At first, she started out well enough with nice vocals and a little bounce in her step. Until she face-planted onto the floorboards, earning a sympathetic wince from both porcupines. The moment Gunter helped her offstage and Moon advised them to work on their routine, Johnny had already wheeled his piano onstage and hastily sat down to perform his song.

"You can't just sing, you've got to show ze fire und desire!" Gunter explained, giving a little shake of his shoulders for emphasis.

"The fire went out a long time ago." Rosita replied, rubbing her sore snout.

"Vat?"

"Look, I can't even keep count of the steps!" She cried stressfully.

"Ugh, counting schmounting. She thinks too much vis her head, right?" Gunter asked, staring at the others. Meena gave a sheepish nod, as did Ash as she chewed on some gum from Rosita's handbag. Jason, thinking back to Rosita's stiff dancing on the coloured footprint paper, gave an "eh, kinda" shrug and nodded as well.

"Ja, ja, see?" Gunter said, giving a little shimmy on the spot. "Forget ze steps and just, like, let ze music take control of your body parts!"

"My body parts are not responding, okay? It's never gonna happen." Rosita said sadly, grabbing her handbag from Ash and slinging the strap over her shoulder. With a heavy sigh, she turned on her heel and made her way to the exit.

"I should just be getting groceries." She muttered in a broken tone.

"Rosita, wait a minute!" Jason protested along with everyone else, but the pig was already out of the doors. The porcupine looked around at the others whose expressions saddened further as the doors shut with a clank. Even the usually-plucky Gunter looked downtrodden.

"Hey, come on, Gunter." Jason said, climbing down from the crate's edge and placing a paw on his shoulder, "She's just under a lot of pressure right now, I'm sure she'll come back. I doubt she'd just abandon the competition altogether." Letting out a deep breath through his nostrils, Gunter gazed at him out of the corner of his eyes.

"Ja, I guess so." He replied, though his expression didn't change. Jason gave a comforting yet sad smile before turning his attention to Johnny's cover of All Of Me. As much as Johnny's vocals were superb, the occasional wrong note on the piano made him wince in sympathy. It wasn't until he got through the first chorus that the gorilla stopped despondently.

"Johnny, uh, I know I'm asking a lot of you..."

"Mr Moon, I'm _really_ trying, I promise." Johnny replied in a pleading tone.

"Mmm, what about your backup song?" The koala asked, looking at his note as Johnny checked his watch anxiously. "Have you practised that?"

"Umm… well, not yet."

"Well why don't we go back and work on that one, okay? I mean, look, if you play like that in front of Nana Noodleman..." Buster didn't get the chance to finish as when he looked back toward the stage, he saw only a spinning piano stool. Johnny thundered past the others and out of the exit doors.

"Johnny sure is running a lot these days." Jason quipped, staring at the slowly-closing doors.

"Yeah, I hope he's okay." Meena replied with concern.

"Umm, alright then. Jason, let's see you next!" Jason froze at the koala's words. It wasn't until now that he realised how quickly the other rehearsal performances had gone by. Two choices pounded in his mind: Stay in the wings and refuse to go onstage altogether. Or go out there and risk making a complete fool of himself.

 _How about option three: bury myself beneath the floorboards?_

"Jason, you're on." Ash's sweet voice, complete with a tap on the shoulder, snapped him back to reality.

"Right. Yeah." The porcupine replied uneasily, making his way towards the lit stage.

"Good luck." That little vow of support from Ash at least made him pick up the pace a little bit. Once onstage, Jason hesitantly adjusted the microphone to his height while Meena quickly pushed the piano off to the side and took her place back at the controls. The fear kicked back in once the opening twangs of a guitar sounded from the speakers.

"When you're ready, Jason." Moon called over the gradually-loudening instrumentals. Swallowing his terror as best as he could, Jason began with the first verse of Friends. Looking out the corner of his eye, he could just make out an air of enthralment in Ash's face. Remembering her statement that she hadn't heard him sing yet, it was clear she was wishing she'd heard him earlier. Feeling a little better, he added more of a jokey Southern twang to his voice as the verse continued.

Once that finished and the chorus started up, however, that's where things went pear-shaped. He got through the first two lines okay until it came to the line "kickin' up dir-r-rt". He tried as best as he could. But that didn't stop Moon, Miss Crawley, Meena and especially Ash from wincing as his attempted high note came off akin to a strangled parrot.

"Sorry, sorry, stop the music! Stop it, please!" Jason cried out, facepalming as he blushed scarlet beneath his fur. Quickly, Meena hit the pause button on the music, leaving no sound in the amphitheatre except for Jason's uneasy breaths. He didn't dare look at Ash's face after that fiasco.

"Ummm, well that, uh, started off very nicely, Jason, but, uh…" Moon began before Jason interrupted him.

"I know, I know, you want me to hit the high notes on this song because it's too late to switch and try learning different songs this late into rehearsals and I'm _so_ sorry I messed it up!"

"Hey, hey, don't be like that. It's fine." Moon replied, trying to make Jason's situation seem not as disastrous as it was. "So you still got some tweaking to do on that particular song, but at least your other songs are coming along okay, right?"

"Uhh… no, not exactly…" The additional blaring sound of Jason's Axel F ringtone cut the conversation short, startling everyone in the theatre with its volume. Quickly fishing his phone out of his pocket, the porcupine glanced at the avatar of his mother on the screen as the ringtone carried on. Cursing himself for forgetting to turn it off, he quickly looked back at Buster and Miss Crawley with an embarrassed smile.

"Uhh, sorry, Mr. Moon. Lemme take this quickly." He said, quickly answering it and holding it to his ear. "Mom, this really isn't the best time… look, I'm in the middle of a rehearsal. Can't it wait until af… What?" The others looked at each other curiously as Jason's confusion melted into shock.

"No…" His voice barely reached a whisper. "I'll be right there, hang on." Hastily stuffing the phone back into his jeans, the porcupine made a break for the wings while both Miss Crawley and Buster watched in bafflement.

"Jason, wait!" Ash grabbed onto his arm, gazing into his face with concern. "Where are you going?"

"Uh, my mom, she, uh… needs some more milk. The car's broken, so, uh… See ya." At those stumbling words, Jason wrenched his arm out of Ash's grip and bolted out the doors. Then the Moon Theatre. Sprinting down the street as the last dreadful words from his mother on the phone rang in his ears:

" _It's Grandpa. He collapsed in his home. And now he's in the hospital."_

 ***I do not own the rights to the movie Sing. All rights go to Illumination Entertainment**


	11. Bargaining

**I do not own the movie Sing. I only own my OC, Jason.**

 **Enjoy and don't forget to leave a review! :)**

The hospital doors flew open with a deafening bang.

The head of every doctor, patient and visitor whipped around to stare at the breathless porcupine who had burst into the foyer. Looking around frantically, Jason finally caught sight of his family mournfully gathered around the cushion chairs in the waiting area. He sprinted past every animal in his path until he made it to them. His quills had jabbed many pedestrians on his race to the hospital but he had been too frantic to take any notice.

"I… got… here… as fast as… I could." He wheezed out, bending over slightly as he panted endlessly.

"Yeah, I can tell." Alex said, placing a paw on his brother's shoulder. "Now breathe." Heeding his advice, Jason finally took a few deep breaths in, letting each one out slowly. Once that was done, he got a good look at his family's faces. Kenneth was doing his best to console his clearly-distraught wife while Stephanie sat in her seat choking back tears. Alex and Craig, for once, remained completely sombre.

"I… I'm sorry, Jason." Gina managed to get out, looking at her son with glistening eyes. "But… Grandpa's heart disease has worsened." Jason swore he felt his heart rocket up into his mouth at those words as his mother choked up once more.

"His medication would only do so much for him." Kenneth continued for her, futilely rubbing her shoulder comfortingly. "Your mother went over to bring him his groceries but… found him passed out in his living room. She called the hospital immediately and then she let us all know. The nurses will let us visit him in a while but from what we've overheard, it doesn't look that good for him." Jason managed to lean against the chair's arm before his legs had the chance to give out from under him.

"No…" He whispered in a choked voice, as if an icy hand had seized him by the throat. "No, Grandpa's fine. H-He's gonna pull through."

"Jason, who are you kidding?" The porcupine flinched slightly at Stephanie's abnormally harsh tone. "He's _anything_ but fine." Craig got out of his seat and placed both paws on Jason's arms while his sister wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"Listen, I know it's hard." He said gently but firmly, "Believe me, it's hard for all of us. But you just have to acce…"

" _NO!"_

Once more, every animal in the foyer turned to look at Jason who had wrenched himself out of his brother's grip.

"No, you all may have given up on him but _I_ sure as heck haven't!" The porcupine yelled, shooting glares at each of his family members.

"Jason, we never…" Gina didn't get the chance to finish.

"I'll win the singing contest! _That's_ what I'm gonna do! I'm gonna win that prize money and I'm gonna use it to pay for his operation! He's gonna make it, I swear!"

"Jason, please!" Stephanie's plea went unheard as her brother bolted out of the doors in the blink of an eye. He sprinted past various animals on the sidewalk as he ran further back into the city, once again not caring if his quills pricked any unfortunate civilians in his way. The determination in his eyes extinguished as he finally slowed to a halt, contemplating his declaration in the hospital.

"Win the competition when I can't even hit the high notes on _any_ of my songs? Flawless plan there, Jason." He muttered sarcastically. He stood rooted to the spot in deep worried thought for what seemed like hours, while car horns honked and civilians chattered all around him. Finally the porcupine came to a conclusion he'd been ignoring since the first day of rehearsals.

He needed help. And fast.

* * *

After quite the trek from the nearest bus stop, Jason finally made it to the towering structure of Paradise Apartments. He'd sprinted all the way back to the Moon Theatre, only to find out from Meena that Ash had chosen to go home and get her mind off Lance, as well as write a new song for her performance seeing how she was in no mood to sing Call Me Maybe.

"Excuse me?" He asked the antelope at the reception desk, absent-mindedly playing a game on his phone. "I'm here to visit a friend of mine. Ash, porcupine, has a thing for rock, awesome set of pipes, kinda cute in a punky sort of way…" Realising how off-topic he was getting, Jason awkwardly cleared his throat. "Uh, which-which apartment room is she in?"

"Top floor, first door on the right." Came the disinterested reply.

"Great, thanks."

One elevator ride later, Jason found himself in the hallway and outside the bright white door, the faint sound of strumming guitar strings behind it. Inhaling deeply, he raised a paw and gave the door a couple of quick knocks. The guitar sounds immediately stopped and were replaced by approaching footsteps. The door opened hesitantly at first before fully revealing a quite surprised Ash.

"Jason?"

"Uh, hey, Ash." He replied uneasily, giving a tiny awkward wave.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were collecting milk." Ash asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Huh?" Jason's confusion quickly melted as he remembered his half-baked cover-up story. "Oh, yeah, yeah, I did. Got it then dropped it off at home for my mom." The female porcupine just raised a sceptical eyebrow.

"Jason, are you feeling okay?" At last, Jason dropped his unconvincing smile and gave a long defeated sigh. His reply came quietly.

"No. No, I'm not." Instantly, Ash's doubtful stare softened.

"Well what's wrong?" Resisting the urge to blurt out his grandpa's current situation, the porcupine took a deep breath through his nostrils.

"Can you help me with the high notes?" He finally asked. Ash stared at him.

"What?"

"I mean, I know you're still handling your breakup with Lance, but I…" Jason sighed deeply. "I can't face Nana Noodleman up on that stage tomorrow if I can't even sing _one_ of my songs right."

 _Or win the prize money for him._

The female porcupine remained still patiently as Jason continued.

"Believe me, I would've asked someone else for help under better circumstances. But Johnny's too busy with his family stuff, Meena's got stage fright, Rosita's out of the picture, Gunter… is a good dancer but not exactly a master in the singing department. And Mike's obviously out of the question. So you were the best animal I could turn to." Jason steeled himself before voicing his request once more.

"Will you help me? Please?"

Ash's voice shattered the silence after a moment of contemplating, empathy shimmering in her eyes.

"Well… you helped me." That sweet smile returned to her face.

"I think it's only fair I return the favour." Breathing a tiny relieved sigh, Jason took a step towards the inside of her apartment room before her arm shot against the door frame, blocking his path. Ash gave a tiny playful grin.

"But _only_ if you give me some feedback on my song I'm writing." Jason smiled back thankfully.

"Deal."

Lowering her arm, Ash let him past her and into the living room. Jason gazed at his surroundings, impressed. Rock band posters decorated the light purple walls above the lily-white couch, seven-foot speakers towering either side. A neat coffee table covered with a cloth stood in the room's centre, complete with a neat chandelier-shaped ceiling light hanging above it. Aside from some leads snaking across the floor, along with a few books and some torn-up pictures of her and Lance, Ash's apartment wasn't as cluttered as one would expect from a rocker.

"Wow, this is a really nice place you got." He said, his eyes still looking around in awe.

"Yeah, sorry about the mess." Ash replied, sheepishly brushing some of the shredded photos aside with her foot. "I wasn't expecting guests."

"No worries." Jason, truthfully, was desperate to get to learning the high notes. Nonetheless, he tried to make his next question sound as casual and patient as possible. "So shall we, uh, go over this song of yours?"

"Yeah, sure." With that, the girl porcupine propped herself up onto the couch, bringing her laptop with her.

"Alright, so this is what I've got so far." She explained as Jason pulled himself up next to her. "It's my first song I've ever written so I doubt it'll be a masterpiece or anything. Feel free to critique it." Giving a nod, the porcupine gazed at the title above the lyrics onscreen:

 _Set It All Free_

His eyes danced across each transcribed lyric, growing more impressed with each line. When he was finished, he looked across at Ash who was bracing herself for any potential flaws in her song.

"For a beginner, not bad at all." Ash's eyes lit up instantly.

"Really?"

"Yeah, the lyrics are pretty strong." Jason replied, "They got that power to them, saying, like, 'Yeah, I've been through a bad place but I'm still standing strong, I can get through this'. You, uh, got the music to go with 'em?"

"Yeah." Ash set her laptop down beside her before climbing down to pick her guitar up off the floor. "Well I'm still working out the kinks so just bear with me." Giving an understanding nod, Jason observed from her spot on the coach. After a deep inhale, Ash expertly strummed the strings as she began the song. Her voice came across as rather soft at first, uneasy even as she sang the first verse. Once she looked up and saw how engrossed Jason looked, the volume in her voice picked up gradually with each word.

Giving a final strum after she'd gotten through the chorus, she took a breather before glancing at Jason again.

"Was that okay?"

"Ash, that was more than okay." Jason's face lit up like a Christmas tree in the blink of an eye. "That was fantastic!" The female porcupine took a step back, her surprise melting into pure joy.

"Y-You mean it?"

"Absolutely!" Jason almost tumbled off the coach with excitement as he babbled. "I-I mean, the music really added a lot to the lyrics! And you captured that feeling of power really well with your guitar _and_ your voice, especially when it got to the chorus. Y'know, that was where it _really_ picked up. I mean, I just… _wow!"_

His babbling finally stopped once he spotted Ash out of the corner of his eye blushing scarlet underneath her fur.

"Ahem, in short, uh, pretty good." Ash chuckled at that jokey sum-up.

"Thanks. Heh, guess it's a no-brainer who the lyrics are aimed at."

"Nah, don't have a clue." Jason replied with a shrug, pretending to look completely naïve. The two porcupines shared a laugh before Ash pulled herself onto the couch again, setting her guitar on the cushions next to her.

"I'm a bit stumped on the second verse though." She said, showing Jason her laptop. He raised his eyebrows when he saw the rest of the page was barren of any text. "I mean, I've got _'I was a girl caught under your thumb'_ but that's it. I'm still pretty new to this whole song-writing thing." Jason pondered for a moment. Ash waited with hope as he counted the syllables of that lone lyric on his fingers.

"I'm usually terrible at rhyming but… what about, uh, _'my star will shine brighter than your sun'_?" He suggested at last. "Y'know, 'cause all the planets revolve around the sun so that could mean Lance thinks everything revolves around him?" Ash's eyebrows furrowed as she considered.

"Yeah…" She said quietly, her eyes and smile growing wider, "Yeah, that's great!" Now bursting with ideas, her fingers flew over her keyboard in a blur as she typed that suggested rhyme, brainstorming the rest of the verse too.

"Okay, how's that?" She showed Jason her laptop screen once more, singing along as his eyes scanned over the new lyrics. " _I was a girl caught under your thumb, but my star's gonna shine brighter than your sun. And I will reach so high, shoot so far. Gonna hit, gonna hit, hit every target. Make it count this time, I will make it count this time_." Jason nodded, clearly impressed; for someone completely new to song-writing, Ash had quite the knack for it.

"Yeah, that works very well. See? You're great at this!"

Smiling at his compliment, Ash turned back to her screen and, in less than two minutes, wrote down the rest of the song. Leaning in slightly to get a better look, Jason saw the two words she had written in brackets before the final chorus.

"'Guitar solo'?"

"I think I'll let that part come naturally to me." Ash replied "Y'know, just let it out when I actually perform it." Her smile faded slightly. " _If_ Moon will let me perform it, that is."

"You kidding?" Jason asked, "That koala would have to be _crazy_ to not let you sing this onstage." Ash smiled gratefully at him.

"From the top?"

"From the top."

Picking her guitar onto her lap, her fingers froze over the strings, hesitation showing in her eyes.

"Sorry, it's just I've never played guitar onstage by myself before." She sighed. "Or an entire song for that matter. I mean, with Lance, it was easier but…" Her worried expression vanished as Jason's paw rested on her shoulder.

"Hey, hey, hey. Forget about Lance." He said in a firm but gentle manner. "He can't limit you to just the background vocals anymore." The porcupine smiled warmly.

"This is your moment, Ash. _Seize it."_

Ash stared at him for the longest time. At last, she took a deep breath. With that, her paws and fingers glided up and down the guitar's neck effortlessly, playing the song the entire way through without fault or reluctance. Each perfect note blared from the speakers on each end of the couch. Jason could only stare in awe the whole time. Her hesitance was gone completely, replaced by a newfound passion burning within her.

"How was that?" She asked bashfully the moment her performance ended.

"I got three words for you, Ash." Jason replied, snapping out of his trance. "You're a _natural_!" Giving another sheepish yet grateful smile, Ash set her guitar down beside her.

"Now how about we take a look at your songs?" She asked.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, yeah, sure." Jason quickly remembered his reason for being here and reluctantly pushed recent memories of Ash's song to the back of his mind. The porcupine fished his song sheet out of his jeans and gently unfolded it. He and Ash's eyes scanned over each song title.

 _All-Star by Smash Mouth_

 _You're Welcome by Dwayne Johnson_

 _If You Can't Rock Me by The Brian Setzer Orchestra_

 _Crash by The Primitives_

 _Into Yesterday by Sugar Ray_

 _Find Yourself by Brad Paisley_

 _Crocodile Rock by Elton John_

 _Paradise by Coldplay_

 _Careless Whisper by George Michael_

 _Friends by Blake Shelton_

 _I See Fire by Ed Sheeran_

"So _all_ these songs have high notes?" Ash asked once finished.

"Yeah." Came the dejected response. "I know the lyrics just fine, it's when I get to the high notes that I really struggle. Every time it gets to one, I either panic and go with a different note entirely or I try to sing it and it just comes across as…" Jason paused, degraded. "Well, I guess you remember what happened today." His eyes looked at anything in the room except Ash's face, the embarrassment still there. Understandingly, she placed her paw upon his shoulder, prompting him to look at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Well for the record, your singing did start off pretty great." That gentle compliment didn't do a whole lot but his mouth corner at least curled up a tiny bit in gratitude.

"Alright then, let's go through these songs one by one." Removing her paw, Ash turned the laptop screen toward her and, fingers flying over the keys, quickly got up a karaoke video of All-Star on MeTube. She then jumping down from her comfy spot on the couch while Jason followed suite. "Now first things first, stretch your body."

"Stretch?" Jason's eyebrows furrowed. "I thought I was singing, not preparing for a marathon."

"Jason…"

"Okay, okay, you're the boss." He quickly obeyed as soon as that "stern mother" tone made itself clear in Ash's voice. The two porcupines put in as many exercises as they could into the span of thirty seconds, from rolling their shoulders to twisting their bodies around.

"Alright, now for the face." Ash said once that was over with. "Open your mouth wide, like you're letting out a big yawn." Looking incredulous, Jason complied nevertheless. "Good, now make different shapes with your mouth. Like you're making vowel sounds."

"This feels stupid." The porcupine objected, stopping midway.

"No, no, no, come on." Ash replied insistently, "This helps, trust me on this." Jason gave a sigh.

"Alright." Swallowing his pride, he resumed his mouth shaping, miming all the vowels over and over again. Ash didn't laugh at him; she just observed with patience.

"Good, now massage your facial muscles so they don't feel sore." She instructed once more. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Jason gently rain his fingers in circles over the muscles in his cheeks.

"Okay, can we get to the singing part now?" He asked, his impatience starting to show. But it vanished the moment Ash raised her eyebrow at him, starting to look quite annoyed.

"Jason, do you want to hit those high notes perfectly or not?" She asked strictly, a paw on her hip.

"Yes." Jason's posture was now reminiscent of a child being given a firm scolding by an aggravated mother.

"Then _be patient."_

"Alright, I'm sorry." The porcupine quickly replied, looking at the floorboards in an embarrassed manner. Taking a calming breath, Ash resumed her lesson.

"Now take deep breaths in and out." Jason did so, albeit slightly faster than she had anticipated. "No, no, slower, more relaxed. And don't tense your shoulders. You'll always need good breathing control when you sing." Her smile started returning as Jason took in slower breaths and exhaled them, this time with a much more relaxed stance. His shoulders hung loosely as he repeated this exercise.

"Okay, you keep breathing. I'll be right back." Raising a curious eyebrow, Jason nonetheless carried on doing so as Ash went into her kitchen. Only the sound of tranquil inhaling and exhaling filled the living room. At last, the female porcupine returned with two glasses of water in her paws. "Good, now take a sip of this." Jason took one of them from her gratefully. Instantly his eyebrows furrowed as he felt the water's temperature through the glass.

"Warm?" He asked. "I thought singers are supposed to drink cold water to hit these kinda notes."

"I thought that too when I was in junior high." Ash replied with a shrug. "Turns out drinking warm water works better at relaxing the throat muscles than ice-cold water does. Makes it hurt less when you sing."

"Huh. The more you know." Jason responded after considering this for a moment. With that, he took a small sip of his drink before setting it down on the coffee table.

"Right, now for the singing." Jason mentally fist-pumped at those words. "Now the key to high notes is while it's important to breathe while singing, you don't need loads of air to hit them. You get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"You can't expect to hit the high notes by opening your mouth wide and just forcing out as much air as you can." Ash continued, "Otherwise you could damage your vocal cords permanently." Jason nearly shuddered at the thought of that outcome potentially happening in front of Miss Noodleman.

"Yeah, no damaging please." He replied with a jokey yet incredibly anxious grin.

"So the most important part is you have to breathe and sing from the diaphragm, not from the throat." Jason's eyebrows furrowed as he thought back to the last time he heard that word in 8th Grade science class.

"The balloon thingy below your lungs?" Ash nodded, also giving an amused smirk at his childlike description.

"Exactly. If you try forcing it from your throat, you only hurt yourself. Just let it flow naturally." She continued. "Right then, let's warm up your range. Repeat after me." After a brief loosening of her joints, Ash cleared her throat before singing out a relatively low 'dooooh' sound. Looking confused for a second, Jason quickly recognised this as the "do re mi" exercise and repeated the note. The two porcupine rattled through all eight notes without fault.

"Right, now we're gonna go over it again but from where we left off on that high 'do', 'kay?" Hesitating slightly, Jason nonetheless gave a small nod and they both began the exercise again. He hadn't made it past 're' before he looked into Ash's eyes and immediately began to waver. She noticed this and quickly stopped.

"Jason, remember to relax." She said gently. "I get it, I'm right in front of you and you don't wanna screw this up with me here. But if you don't _try_ , how will you know for certain that you can't reach these notes?" Pondering these words, Jason thought back to his disastrous performance earlier today. The expectant stares from everyone in the theatre evaporating into cringes. The heat of humiliation flaring in his cheeks. The energetic nature of his performance crashing and bursting into a hideous inferno.

Then he softened at the memory of Ash's invested gaze. The admiration flashing in her smile. The genuine awe of how the rest of his song would play out, no matter what mistakes dared to creep their way into the notes.

 _But most importantly, think of Grandpa's condition._

"Okay."

With that, Jason repeated the 'do' sound once more albeit with a little more confidence. Ash looked on with pride as he carefully worked his way through the other sounds. For a brief moment on 'mi', Jason considered stopping until he saw the encouragement in Ash's face. Swallowing his fear, he just managed to sing out the 'so' note before stopping to catch his breath.

"I think… that's the highest I can reach… without… hurting my throat." Jason said through his panting.

"Nice one." Ash replied, giving him a pat on the arm, "You see? You're getting it."

"You sure you're not secretly pursuing a career as a musical instructor?" The porcupine asked before taking another sip of his water. Ash chuckled.

"I had a pretty great teacher in 10th Grade. A few of her tips stuck with me." With that, the female porcupine leant her arm across to her laptop on the couch, the screen still showing the currently-paused karaoke video. "Now let's get down to business."

"Yes, ma'am." Ash snickered at Jason's remark, complete with a playful salute, before hitting the PLAY button.

For the most part, Jason got through All-Star fairly well. So much so that he couldn't help giving a little shimmy of his shoulders. When the song drew nearer to the third "all that glitters is gold" where the notes got higher, he hesitated a little bit. But when he glanced at Ash, she motioned to her own shoulders. Quickly remembering, Jason relaxed his stance.

And hit the high note.

A rush of newfound courage flooded through his body as the porcupine powered through the rest of the song, though just barely making it past the last two "all that glitters is gold" with even higher notes. As the final note of the karaoke video faded, Jason took a much-needed swig of his warm drink and looked over at Ash for feedback. And she was clearly impressed, her eyes lit up with pure joy.

"Jason, you did great!" She exclaimed, throwing her paws up.

"Ah, you're just saying that." Jason replied modestly.

"No, I'm serious, you _nailed_ that song!" Ash grabbed both of his arms excitedly and gazed into his eyes. "Didn't it feel good to make it through without any major screw-ups?" Jason thought for a moment.

"Actually… yeah. It did feel pretty good."

"You still need a bit of work on those last high notes in the final chorus though." Ash added, still smiling proudly. "Wanna try that again?" Taking a sip of his water, Jason gave a confident smile back as he set it back down on the table.

 _"Let's."_

* * *

All through the afternoon, the two porcupines worked their way through each song on Jason's list. They spend the rest of the afternoon practicing with each other. With every run-through, Jason gradually got better, hitting the high notes with greater ease than before. Every few songs, they turned their attention to Ash practicing her own song and making any tweaks to either the lyrics or the music. Jason was really starting to enjoy himself and get deeper into the music, though he denied it and tried to keep his focus on the prize money.

Emitting a long exhale after the last note of _I See Fire_ , Jason leant against the arm of Ash's couch as his smile grew.

 _I got that prize money in the bag._

"Wow." He said after a couple of pants, "This turned out pretty fun. Sure glad I came to _you_ for help."

"I'll bet." Ash replied, taking a sip of her own water. "And I gotta say, all that hard work really did pay off."

"Not so bad yourself, Malcolm Young." Ash gave Jason an amused but grateful smile for that compliment. Before he could say anything else, he finally noticed the glare of the setting sun beaming onto Ash's already gorgeous face.

"Oh, jeez, is it that time already?" Jason asked, his eyes widening. Turning her attention to the red rays shining through the window, Ash's expression turned surprised too.

"Whoa, guess you better head home before your folks start wondering where you are." She said.

"Sound advice." Picking up his rehearsal sheet from the table, Jason swiftly folded it and slotted it back into his jean pocket.

"Hey, Jason?" He glanced up into Ash's gleaming eyes, the porcupine rubbing her arm. "Thanks for your help with my song today. I really appreciate it. I mean, I feel like a whole new porcupine. Like I can take on the world." Jason could only smile.

"And thanks for _your_ help, Ash. Really, I really have no idea where I'd be right now if it hadn't been for you."

"The feeling's mutual." Ash chuckled slightly. "And who knows? You might just win the competition after all."

 _I hope._

Giving a small nod, the two porcupines walked into the hallway where Jason placed his paw on the door handle and pulled it open.

"See you tomorrow then?" He asked, his eyes never leaving as he made his way out.

"You bet." Came the friendly response. "Best of luck, Jason."

"You too."

Regrettably the door closed.

On the ride home, Jason gazed distantly out of the bus window. He couldn't get his mind off a lot of things, like how nice it had been rehearsing the entire day with Ash. As well as spending time with her in general.

 _Eyes on the prize, Jason. Eyes on the prize._

He managed to get back to reality just before he missed his stop. The moment he entered the house, he found himself bombarded with questions from Gina of where he had been and if he had been hurt in any way. She only stopped babbling once she took notice of his dreamy smile.

"Jason, are you feeling okay?" Whether the positive tone of his reply was referring to Ash or his potential victory, Jason couldn't decide.

"I like to think so, Mom."

 ***I do not own the rights to the movie Sing. All rights go to Illumination Entertainment**


	12. Lies Revealed

**I do not own the movie Sing. I only own my OC, Jason.**

 **Hey, funny story, guys. It turns out auditions for The Voice 2019 here in the UK are already being held and they're right here in my hometown on Tuesday the 24** **th of April** **! How crazy is that?! Figured I may as well give it a shot soooo… wish me luck!**

 **Enjoy and don't forget to leave a review! :)**

Jason still felt right as rain by the time he reached the Moon Theatre. Ever since last evening's rehearsal session with Ash, his upbeat mood had never faltered all morning, to the point where Stephanie had asked if he was feeling okay. With the potential of winning that prize money to pay for Grandpa's operation, Jason assured her that he'd never felt better. Although getting to practice with Ash was certainly a plus. He'd even brought a water bottle filled with hot water from the kettle to last him the day. Good advice was good advice after all.

What did change his mood to confusion, however, was the moment he entered through the foyer doors and into the amphitheatre. In place of the old wooden floorboards was now a water-filled stage made entirely of glass. Walking closer, Jason's eyes never looked away as he climbed the steps onto the new surface. He swore he saw something moving down there.

"Moon, what are you up to?" He muttered to himself as he carefully walked across to the backstage area. As soon as he came through the door, he almost immediately heard the sound of jamming piano keys from Moon's office. He also noticed all the windows for the rehearsal spaces were gone. Baffled for a brief moment, the porcupine quickly deduced that they were what was holding the water.

 _What on Earth is that koala planning?_

"Have you seen the new stage?" A familiar voice cried out from behind him. Smiling to himself, Jason turned to see Ash closing the door behind her, guitar case in paw.

"How could I not?" He replied, "Whatever Moon has planned, it better dazzle Nana Noodleman when she arrives."

"I'll say." Ash gave a nod, patting her guitar case. "Hopefully my song will blow her away." Her smile faded somewhat.

"If Moon approves of it, of course." She said quietly. Still keeping his own smile, Jason placed his paw on her shoulder, prompting her to look at him.

"He will. I'm sure of it." With that, the porcupine turned and made his way into his rehearsal space. Ash's smile returned as he shut the door behind him.

"Seems kinda pointless, doesn't it?" She called jokingly, "No glass!"

"Eh, force of habit." He called back. Laughing to herself, Ash walked to her own rehearsal room. Fishing his song sheet out of his jeans, Jason no longer gazed at it with worry.

"One more run through, I think." He thought out loud, switching on the CD player as the other contestants started to arrive.

Very soon, the entire theatre was booming with harmonious sounds, no longer confined by the glass windows of each rehearsal room. From Johnny's massively improved piano playing to Ash's poised guitar strums to the thumping beats of Gunter's warmup song, the musical noise never died down. No one was willing to give a half-hearted performance today, especially Jason. He powered through each of his songs with the boldness, and even _fun_ that his previous attempts had been lacking. As much as he hated to sound like Mike, with any luck, he considered that prize to be good as his.

Just as he'd finished practicing his final song, the door opened and in stepped Meena. Jason jumped slightly at her sudden entrance.

"Oh, sorry, Jason." The elephant said sheepishly as he composed himself, giving a small smile in a forgiving manner. "Mr. Moon wants us all to meet backstage before Nana arrives."

"Sure thing, Meena." Jason replied, taking his CD out and placing his song sheet back in his pocket. He just managed to avoid pricking Meena with his quills as he sprinted out the door excitedly. Turning his head left, he heard the melodious sound of Ash coming to the end of her new song's run-through. Walking over, he opened the door very gently and watched her sing the final chorus. Even with their lengthy rehearsal time yesterday, he never grew tired of seeing her play and sing so perfectly. At last the female porcupine sung out the final note and ceased her strumming, eyes closed.

"Wow." Both porcupines turned to see Buster standing in the doorway beside Jason, clipboard in paw. "You wrote that?"

"Uhh, yeah." Ash replied somewhat hesitantly. "D'ya like it?"

"Are you kidding?" The koala's incredulous expression evaporated in an amazed grin. "It's _fantastic!_ You've got to sing that today!" As he ran back out into the hallway, Jason turned back to Ash, a fully confident smile growing on her face. He grinned and raised an eyebrow, complete with a nod as she looked at him.

"Told you he'd be crazy to reject it."

* * *

Buster occasionally took a look at his clipboard while Meena moved some wheeled crates around, every contestant now on their feet. Gunter was stretching, Johnny was coming down from Moon's office reading this morning's paper while Jason took a swig of his water bottle.

"Mike, you're on first." Jason rolled his eyes at the pompous mouse, casually laying back on a fancy cushion on top of a directors chair.

"Sure, uh, just a second here." He lazily replied, stopping to answer his tiny phone.

"Rosita and Gunter, you're on after Mike." Gunter's downtrodden mood lit up like a Christmas tree as Rosita walked in the door, right on cue.

"You got it, boss." She replied, a newfound confidence in her smile.

"Rosita!" Gunter cried, giving the pig a high-five with a laugh. "Super cool! You've, like, totally come back!"

"Okay, Johnny, you follow them." Johnny was too ingrossed in his newspaper to notice the koala at first.

"What?" He asked before finally seeing him. "Oh! Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm ready. Yeah, yeah."

"Ash, you're…"

"After Johnny. I got it." Came the porcupine's swift reply as she took one last look at her lyrics, Buster nodding in return.

"Jason…"

"Yep, after Ash. I know." Jason responded before going back to breathing in and out gently.

"Hey." Ash gave him a nudge with her elbow. "You ready for this, Jason?"

"As ready as I'll ever be. You?"

"You bet." She frowned slightly. "Still gotta wear that stupid princess outfit though."

"Well with any luck, Moon will take one look at your performance and say that dress doesn't suit a rock star like you." Jason said, causing Ash to blush modestly under her fur.

"Mr. Moon!" Buster, along with all the contestants, looked upward to see an anxious Miss Crawley on the rigging, pointing towards the window.

"She's here."

"Right, places, everyone!" The koala made a break for the door. "I'll go greet Nana while Meena sorts out the lighting!" Without a moment to waste, everyone immediated rushed about to prepare for this performance as quick as they could.

In no time at all, everyone was in the wings. They watched with bated breath as Nana Noodleman herself, accompanied by the same sheep from the auditions, sat themselves in the royal box with a perfect view of the glass stage. The chest with the prize money inside was propped up on a tall glass stand with steps leading up to it. Jason could've sworn Mike was missing from the group but he chose to ignore that as the stagelights dimmed. Everything went silent as Buster lowered down in front of the red curtain on the crescent moon prop, the spotlight shining on him.

"All creatures great and small, welcome to the Moon Theatre!" He announced into the mike clasped in his paw, "I am your host, Buster Moon, an- _wuuaaaah!"_ He gave a yell at the prop lowered way too fast before stopping abruptly. Everyone turned to look at Meena who sheepishly took her trunk away from the levers and quickly joined them. Nana looked on unimpressed while the other sheep facepalmed.

"Okay." Buster hurriedly pulled himself back up before clearing his throat." Behold, the very first stage lit entirely by… squid power!" With those words, the curtains parted as the song Flashing Lights by Kanye began playing over the speakers. Jason's eyes widened in wonderment as hundreds of squid dance around in the tank, flashing different colours in time with the rhythm like fireworks. Everyone including the porcupine was beyond impressed, clapping and cheering at this dazzling sight. Even Nana was blown away as Buster leapt down onto the stage and gave little dances, the squids following his every step.

"And as you can see, this is no ordinary theatre." He said, explosion of colour bursting beneath his feet. "This is a palace of wonder and magic!" It was safe to say that Nana was now fully captivated, fanning herself while the other sheep looked on in amazement.

"Now welcome our first contestant…" Before he could finish, the amphitheatre doors opened with a deafening bang. Three brawny-looking bears stormed in as the music ground to a halt and the squids stopped flashing.

"Which one of you is Moon?" The bear in front boomed in a thick Russian accent, clearly the leader of the trio.

"Hey, hey, hey, you can't just barge in he…" Buster's protests were swiftly interrupted as the bear held up something in his paw.

"You know this guy?" Everyone's eyes, including Jason, widened as they instantly recognised the rodent in his clenched fist.

"Mike?" Buster asked, shocked.

"Right. _Mike_ here says you got his money and it's in that box." Jason shuffled with worry slightly as the scene unfolded. He was worried about a literal crime and hostage situation taking place, sure, but he certainly didn't want his potential prize to be stolen by these random gang members.

"No, no, no, no, no, just hold on a moment here." Buster replied confidently, "That's prize money. And it's not Mike's unless he wins it fair and…"

"G-Give him the money!" The mouse spluttered, clearly choking in the bear's grip. Jason winced; as much of a jerk as Mike was, he wasn't sure he wanted to see him die. Buster clearly had the same thought, given how quickly he changed his tune.

"Okay, okay! Hey, hey, take it! The whole chest! It's yours, okay? All right here."

" _Open it."_ The bear demanded, now pressing his claws to Mike's throat as he and the other two bears advanced, now on the stage and towering over the koala.

"Open it? I-I, no… me?"

"Open it!" Mike wheezed, desperately struggling in the bear's grip. Buster nervously scrambled away from the bears and onto the chest stand's glass steps, dropping his mike.

"Okay, no, I-I just don't have, I don't have the keys." He winced in pain as the head bear picked him up by one of his ears. "So maybe you could come back later?"

"Get out of the way!" He growled, tossing him and Mike aside. One of the bear crony handed him a baseball bat which he raised above his head, eyeing the chest greedily.

"No, no, no, no, no, no! _Wait!"_ Buster's pleas went unheard as the bear brought the bat down onto the chest. Everyone flinched as both the chest and the stand exploded into pieces, dust forming around the remains.

"Hey, there ya go! Big guy with the bat!" Mike chuckled nervously, dusting himself off as he got to his feet. "Who needs keys, right? Alright, let's get this thing squared up now." Nana, the other sheep and the contestants all watched as the mouse walked into the ruins of the chest as the dust began to settle. Jason's eyebrows furrowed as he began to make out the contents of the chest: a carpet, a watch, an old radio and a bunch of other junk. And worst of all, a measly few hundred dollars.

"What the?" Mike rummaged around the broken wood in disbelief, "That's it? That's all there is?" Picking up the watch in his paw, he turned and glare at the koala.

"He _lied."_

Jason and the others let out small gasps as the bears turned their anger to Buster.

"Moon lied to us all!" Mike yelled, throwing the watch down. Jason was the first of the contestants to advance on the koala.

"W-Wait a second, I can explain…" He said feebly.

"He's your problem, not me!" Mike said to the leader bear, smacking the bat into his paw threateningly.

"This is just a prop."

"So where's the hundred-thousand dollars?" Johnny demanded as they all got closer. As everyone voiced their own disbelief, the shock inside Jason gradually turned into anger. All that hope to save Grandpa. All that encouragement from the others. All that practice and for what? A prize of a hundred-thousand dollars that didn't even exist to begin with?

His bridled rage quickly vanished as he noticed the squids flashing red beneath them. Finally taking notice, the conflict subsided. The stage was starting to crack beneath everyone's weight. All the animals glanced up in horror as more cracks started to form in the glass wall, streams of water leaking out. The male sheep shouted from the royal box, panicked.

" _Buster, look out!"_

Before anyone could react, the glass exploded.

A torrent of water unleashed from the tank, which sucked up the cast and the bears. Jason struggled to stay afloat above the raging water as it carried the screaming contestants through the stalls, out the auditorium and into the foyer. Meena's bulky body plugged up the ticket booth window, the water rising around her as loose theatre seats piled up against the glass doors and windows.

"I'm stuck!" She cried.

Jason was now more terrified as more and more water kept flooding into the foyer. He was now wishing he'd taken swimming lessons as his lungs burned, unintentionally taking in gulps of water. His arms waved furiously at the water, as did everyone else. The pillars for the theatre's dress circle collapsed, blocking off the auditorium completely. Everyone's struggle to stay afloat continued as the ceiling light fizzed out and fell into the water too, just missing Jason. Meena still couldn't budge and her trunk was now just barely above the water level. Gunter and Rosita tried to push her free while thousands of panicked squid swam around in all directions.

The marble support columns began collapsing as Jason fought to keep his eyes open. His vision started to black out as the water only continued rising. Try as he might to stay alive, panic flowed through his veins as he realised this was how he was about to die. In a flooded theatre, all thanks to a lying koala.

Thankfully his awaited death never came. Johnny clutched one of the crumbling pillars and launched himself at Meena. The force of his push made the elephant shoot out of the ticket booth window like a champagne cork as the rest of the glass burst. Water, debris, chairs and the others all washed out onto the street as pedestrians looked on in shock. As the rest of the water thankfully flooded away down the nearest drains, everyone groggily got to their feet, spluttering. Jason coughed up all leftover water in his throat as Ash rose from some wooden wreckage, holding her head. Moon ran out onto the street too while Johnny helped the female porcupine up.

"Is everyone okay?" He asked worriedly before seeing, out of the corner of his eye, an unharmed Nana getting into her car but not before shooting a glare at the koala. "Nana! I-I-I-I'm so sorry, I-I just… No, no, no, no, don't-don't go!" Rosita rushed over to the drenched porcupine and gently grabbed his arm.

"Are you okay, Jason?" She asked as Jason took in large gasps of air.

"Yeah, I… I think so." He replied before also shooting a nasty glare at Moon. "No thanks to _him."_ But before he could go over to give the koala a piece of his mind, a low rumble comes from the theatre. Everyone turned to look, a few stones clattering from the theatre's cracked walls to the street blow. Suddenly a thunderous cloud of dust roared out of the wrecked foyer.

"Look out!" Buster cried out as the cloud covered him and the contestants, following by the ear-splitting sounds of crashing stone. At last, they stopped.

Everyone coughed as the dust gradually cleared. Jason, Ash and the others all gazed in shock as they saw the space where the grand Moon Theatre once stood. In its place was a mountainous pile of smashed rubble and wood. The theatre now in ruins. Jason turned his attention to Moon pathetically stumbling into the wreckage, clearly hoping to find something salvageable. The porcupine felt no sympathy as the koala fell to his knees, Miss Crawley putting an arm over his shoulders as he weeped.

He felt only anger.

Barely resisting the urge to pummel the koala, Jason instead turned on his heel and stormed away from the ruins. He ignored Ash's call from him to come back as he rounded the corner. He didn't say a word as he stormed down the street, uncaringly pricking every citizen in his way. The porcupine didn't even bother getting a bus. He just walked all the way home, the same betrayed glare never leaving his face. The moment he walked into the house, he didn't even acknowledge his surprised mother asking what the matter was or why he was all wet. He just went straight upstairs to his room and slammed the door behind him. Slumping onto his bed, he took one glance at the family portrait with Grandpa on his bedside cabinet and placed it facedown, turning away and clenching his eyes shut tight.

All that time wasted.

All for a lie.

 ***I do not own the rights to the movie Sing. All rights go to Illumination Entertainment**


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